Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) boss Brian Moynihan has pushed back against criticism of the firm’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) stance, assuring the bank was indeed interested in making money.
“We are capitalists,” he wrote to investors in its annual report, defending the banks position as one of the largest issuers of ESG-focused bonds in America.
“Your company is one of the most profitable companies in the world, whose purpose is to help our customers and clients live their financial lives, effectively helping them benefit in the capitalist system,” he added, saying he was often asked about his political stance.
Moynihan’s comments come at time when ESG’s in the US are under the spotlight, with Florida, Louisiana and Missouri collectively pulling US$2.7bn of public funding from asset management giant Blackrock last year, claiming it was preaching a “woke ideology”.
The US$8.4trn US ESG market is also facing heightened scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission, as it checks funds are appropriately labelled and advertised in “investors' best interests”.
The global ESG market is set to hit US$50trn by 2025, according to Bloomberg analysts, accounting for a third of all traded assets.
Bank of America, meanwhile, said it was aiming to issue US$1.5trn of sustainable finance alone by 2030, as part of a wider effort to achieve net zero across its operations by 2050.
"Capitalism provides the money, the creativity, and the expertise to solve the needs of society," Moynihan added.