Vassiliki Lazarakou awarded at the Capital Link Sustainability Forum

The “2023 Capital Link Sustainability Leadership Award” was awarded to Ms. Vasiliki Lazarakou, president of the Capital Market Commission and Doctor of Law in the context of the 13th Annual Capital Link Sustainability Forum held yesterday in a central hotel in Athens.

When receiving the award, Ms. Lazarakou referred to the achievements of the Capital Markets Commission in terms of promoting corporate governance, achieving a quota for female board members of listed companies and promoting the principles of sustainability that companies must meet.

13th Annual Capital Link Sustainability Forum on “Financing, Investments & Sustainable Development” begins today

The Capital Market Commission

Characteristically, Ms. Lazarakou emphasized the participation of the Capital Market Commission in the committee established by the Ministry of Finance and which deals with the specific issues.

Among the achievements of her term, the president of the Capital Market Commission noted its reorganization, as well as the completion of pending cases. As Mrs. Lazarakou said when she assumed her duties, the number was in three digits, while by the end of the month it is expected to be zero.

Sustainability

Earlier, during the forum panels, Mr. John Koudounis, president and CEO of Calamos Investments, and Mr. Dean Metropoulos, president and CEO of Metropoulos & Co, spoke about Sustainability and the Opportunity to Create Long-Term Value.

As Mr. Koudounis said, by investing in ESG Calamos one has the opportunity to invest in many different sectors. He also emphasized the development of the sector since, as he said in 2016, investments in ESG reached 22 trillion. Dollars while in 2022 this amount has “jumped” to 41 trillion dollars. At the same time, he estimated that the relevant investments will multiply in the coming years.

Taking a look back at the past, Mr. Koudounis noted that the beginning of the turn to ESG was essentially the financial crisis of 2008 that made the younger generation show interest in more meaningful issues. “People started to be interested in doing things that will change specific situations,” he said characteristically.

ESG

Mr. Mitropoulos, for his part, emphasized that there should be, alongside the efforts of businesses, a greater role in the matter of ESG on the part of governments. There should be a huge discussion and there should be a detailed check, Mr. Koudounis said for his part.

In addition, Mr. Mitropoulos was extremely optimistic about how the world will be in the future, it will be very different, he said, emphasizing the role that factors such as Artificial Intelligence, electric cars and technological development in general will play in.

Energy

Specifically for the energy sector, Mr. Koudounis said that through Calamos he also invests in the energy sector but with an emphasis on Renewable Energy Sources and fuel transport pipelines, while for mining he said that it has a clearly greater risk.

It is worth noting that Calamos Investments has been present since 1977 and provides global investment services to individuals, investors and investment institutions. The investment firm currently manages over $35 billion in assets, employs over 300 persons and over 80 investment professionals.

Investments

During the conference distinguished speakers from the field of business exchanged opinions and focused on the issue of sustainability which is a key parameter for attracting investments. Businesses are required to comply with a series of new regulations on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) criteria while more and more companies and investment funds are adopting programs or policies based on these criteria in an effort to increase their profitability and improve their access to finance.