Our Story
FiNTEL Sustain was born when Steve Myers and Robert Montgomery met at a conference in 2022 where they appeared on a panel together and were asked about the financial impact of sustainability measures such as ESG on companies and investors. Both Steve and Robert had some exposure to the sustainability space at that time, and both had been working extensively in regulated markets with critical compliance aspects.
Piqued, Steve and Robert started asking questions. They consulted CFOs, asset allocators, sustainability experts, regulators, rank and file employees on what the impact of increasing sustainability performance and reporting measures were on their respective activities. During their period of inquisition, the sustainability sector became more and more controversial from a political perspective such as in some US states and at the same time the reporting obligations for many companies such as in the EU skyrocketed. Moreover, the AI era was well underway and provided a tool set for substantial performance improvement and new product iteration.
Their findings, as framed in a White Paper published in 2023 were profound. Poor sustainability performance by companies led to poor ratings and rankings. This, in turn, led companies to have to sustain a higher cost of capital for debt and equity, M&A challenges, fines and significant expenses in regulated industries, and other assorted challenges to their corporate well-being – much of which came at a significant quantifiable cost.
For investors, the theme played out in parallel. Many investors continued to develop sophisticated models which included many sustainability factors, and they were actively seeking companies that performed well and were highly rated in order to justify capital allocation.
At the same time, ratings and ranking agencies were trying to grapple with this increasingly regulated, changing milieu. Achieving strong sustainability or ESG ratings became a key imperative and a poor rating carried significant implications. It was expensive. There were no standards, the data did not take industry sector variation into major account, and much of the data was self-reported – and investors do not trust self-reported data.
Thus FiNTEL Sustain was born. Steve and Robert set themselves on a course to enable companies and investors to optimize around the brave new world of mandatory sustainability reporting for companies. Between providing cutting edge programs, strategy and advice alongside a superior cost-effective data set built using AI/ LLMs, FINTEL Sustain is set to support better outcomes.