FinTech startups need a responsible finance strategy to help avoid pitfalls as they navigate ESG

ESG is on its way to ubiquity because of the operational benefits it can provide to companies. However, its growth comes with the complication of the wide range of information and topics that matter to different stakeholders. For FinTech startups, this presents a risk of diluting focus and making ESG a compliance obligation rather than a business-relevant tool, unless there is a strategy for companies to start by doing a few important things well, and then expanding to new topics.

Bain & Company and EcoVadis, as well as IBM, each released research finding operational performance benefit for companies with strong ESG characteristicsEvidence is growing outside of large, listed companies, including private companies, that ESG has operational benefits, but als...