Case study: ESG gap analysis for an AIM-listed fintech company
One of the challenges fintech companies face is evolving their ESG position at the same pace as growing their business.
In 2023, we worked with an AIM-listed fintech that was feeling the pressure to meet increasing investor and client demands across environmental, social and governance issues.
At roadshows, in all-staff meetings and in one-to-ones with investors, our client was being asked detailed questions about their plans for climate, people and sustainability. They needed focus for their existing ESG activities, and one joined-up strategy everyone could get behind. Thrive Consulting came onboard to help establish stakeholder expectations and analyse the gap between where their business was now, and where it needed to be.
Gap analysis is an integral part of identifying a company’s ESG positioning. For our fintech client, it meant starting with a crystal-clear view of stakeholder ambitions.
Investor engagement
As a third party, we could hold open conversations with our client’s key investors about ESG performance – the strengths and weaknesses. This gave us critical strategic insight we could replay to our client and use within our analysis.
ESG ambition setting workshop
We workshopped the leadership team’s conflicting priorities for ESG performance. Where did they want to comply or be game-changers? Did they see themselves as leaders in sustainability in the future? How would a new ESG strategy support existing commercial objectives? Working with senior stakeholders across the business, we helped cement ambitions: they agreed where they needed to be.
We could then consider how our client would travel from their current ESG position to meet their agreed ambitions. But we also needed to contextualise their position within the marketplace.
Peer review
Many businesses come to us to troubleshoot their ESG game plan so they can meet their competitors in the market. Reviewing your peers’ positions helps establish your own.
We compared our fintech client’s ESG activities to five of their competitors. Scanning existing commitments, we considered how robust their ESG planning and processes were and the activities in play across sustainability, diversity and people. We then reviewed their actions against their commitments so we could benchmark across the marketplace.
ESG-related legislation now and in future
Positioning clients’ ESG strategy within the context of changing legislation keeps it relevant. For our fintech client, we identified changes that could affect their ESG position in every operational territory – which meant scanning the horizon for current and future legislation in the UK, EU and Australia.
ESG roadmap
Gap analysis helped us establish the distance our client needed to travel to meet their ESG ambitions. The roadmap was the tool which would get them there. Together, we created a definitive and relevant action plan which considered current and future legislation, stakeholder and investor insight, and competitors’ ESG positions.
Outcome
The roadmap has helped our client formalise their approach to sustainability and they continue to meet ESG targets. Robust gap analysis helped get them there. By uniting their company around one ESG story, they have rebuilt investor, client and employee confidence in the long-term sustainability of their business.