DDCAP Group™ is a signatory to CDIT, of which RFI Foundation (http://www.rfi-foundation.org/) is a founder. DDCAP was proud to host the CDIT roundtable at the RFI Summit 2019, which took place recently in Abu Dhabi. The CDIT initiative is designed to complement RFI’s efforts to support RFI members and the wider industry in identifying the landscape of responsible finance as well as the commitments that financial institutions are making to responsible finance practices. The objective of CDIT is to demonstrate over time how those commitments are supported and evidenced by the actions that follow.
Some markets have seen uneven development in responsible finance and a lack of data and relevant examples for peer institutions is part of the reason. From the perspective of DDCAP, we have found that there is a gap in the data available about how different financial institutions and intermediaries are approaching responsible finance. Particularly for firms like DDCAP who don’t fit cleanly into a common basket of asset managers, asset owners or other financial institutions, approaching responsible finance is more challenging.
Better data is needed about the specific approaches being taken by a wide variety of financial sector participants that is flexible to their different business models and structures. This can help those in a similar situation to DDCAP to evaluate where in the responsible finance marketplace they fit and which of their peer institutions are the closest fit, in terms of creating a template for adopting responsible finance practices.
If CDIT is able to create what it aspires to do, we believe it can provide a significant boost to responsible finance across many countries. As such, we are enthusiastic supporters of CDIT and the roundtable was one of a series that is aimed to help move forward the initiative in the GCC and in South East Asia as well as more widely across other markets with significant Islamic finance presence. These are also regions in which DDCAP is represented through our offices at the DIFC in Dubai and also in Kuala Lumpur.