Skip to main content
Sustainability preferences are part of a Bordier mandate, not an add-on to it. Since January 2023, Swiss Bankers Association guidelines have required ESG preferences to be integrated into investment advice and portfolio management, and Bordier collects each client’s preferences as an addendum to their risk profile. Grégoire Bordier, Senior Partner, has put the bank’s position this way:
If there can be no sustainable finance without a sustainable real economy, we believe that our Bank, with over 180 years of existence, has a role to play.

Why preferences are collected

Bordier is a member of the Association of Swiss Private Banks, which has set out fourteen priorities for sustainable finance, and it supports the joint sustainable-finance initiative of the Association of Swiss Bank Managers and the Association of Swiss Private Banks. The guidelines that came into force in January 2023 sit within a wider Swiss position. Switzerland ratified the Paris Agreement in October 2017, has set a target of carbon neutrality by 2050, and reaffirmed that commitment in the Climate Act vote of June 2023. The intent is to steer financial flows towards development that limits greenhouse-gas emissions, is resilient to climate change, and preserves biodiversity. For a client, the questionnaire is the mechanism that lets convictions and investment choices line up. The stated preferences are then taken into account when Bordier verifies suitability under the mandate.

The approaches available

Sustainable investing is not one method. Bordier sets out the recognised approaches and what each does. On impact specifically, Bordier’s test is that the effect must be credible, measurable and causal: direct investment in renewable-energy solutions, or shareholder engagement with an active selection of companies that carry a significant negative effect on climate and biodiversity.

What ESG covers

  • Environment. The direct and indirect effect of a company on nature, for example emissions and waste management.
  • Social. How a company treats people, inside and outside the business.
  • Governance. How a company is directed, owned and held to account.

Sponsorship

Bordier’s commitment also shows up outside the portfolio. The bank sponsored Under The Pole between 2018 and 2021, and since 2022 has supported SolarStratos, which aims to carry a person into the stratosphere for the first time in an electric aircraft powered entirely by solar energy.
General information only. Not investment advice, not a solicitation and not an offer. Sustainable investment approaches, their availability and their regulatory treatment differ by jurisdiction and by client. Speak to your banker about your own circumstances.
Sources: Bordier & Cie client guide, Sustainable preferences; Bordier UK, Our approach to responsible investment, 2026.