Sector Standards Project for Financial Services
Sector Standards Project for Financial Services
Standards for banking, insurance and capital markets
Financial services organizations are intermediaries between all other economic actors, allocating capital through investments, channeling funds from savers to borrowers, facilitating payments, and allowing people and companies to transfer risk. The significance of these sectors lies in their central position in the economy, in which few activities could function without credit, insurance, capital markets or payment services.
Banks, insurers and actors in capital markets have impacts through their own operations - such as employment practices, customer privacy, financial inclusion as well as investment activities. By investing in businesses that have human rights or environmental impacts, financial sector actors facilitate impacts that reach beyond their operational boundaries.
About this project
The Financial Services Sectors have been approved by the GSSB to be included in the next sectors for which Standards will be developed, as part of priority group one. Sectors are prioritized based on the seriousness and the likelihood of their impacts, considering size, worldwide distribution, and the number of organizations from that sector that can use GRI Standards.
If you have questions or would like more information about this project please contact [email protected].
Development of the standard(s)
The Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) has appointed three multi-stakeholder Technical Committees to develop Standards for Banking, Capital Markets and Insurance sectors. Each Committee consists of 13 financial service experts representing civil society, mediating institutions, business enterprises, labor and investment institutions.
Established in September 2023, the three committees are providing technical advisory for the development of the content of the Standards, collaborating via a cross-sector exchange in which all committees are present. The public exposure draft(s) are aimed to be made available in Q4 2024.
For more information about the responsibilities of the Technical committees, see the Terms of Reference.
Project Overview
Q3 2023
Appointment of Technical Committees
Q3 2023 – Q4 2024
Development of exposure draft
Q1 2025 - Q2 2025
Public comment period
Q2 2025 – Q1 2026
Consideration of public comment and revision of Standards
Q2 2026
Expected release of Standards
Related Documents
| GRI Sector Program Description | file | 07 Feb 2019 | English | 449 KB | |
| Draft GSSB Work program 2023-2025 | file | 21 Nov 2022 | English | 831 KB | |
| GRI Sector Standard project for Financial Services - Project proposal | file | 20 Feb 2023 | English | 288 KB |
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