Program Description

Toronto Centre and the World Wildlife Fund are co-hosting this virtual executive panel.

Latin America's financial sector faces mounting challenges from climate change, biodiversity loss, and shifting global expectations around environmental and social (E&S) accountability. Drawing on the findings of WWF’s 2025 Sustainable Banking Assessment — which evaluated 22 leading banks across six Latin American countries — this panel will explore supervisory and policy implications for embedding E&S considerations into risk-based frameworks.

The session will bring together WWF experts, banking supervisors, and financial institutions to discuss how supervisory authorities can accelerate progress to close persistent implementation gaps in E&S risk management, especially regarding nature-related risks, science-based targets, and net-zero alignment. A key focus will be on how regulators can support more consistent disclosure practices, enhance portfolio-level risk assessments, and align national frameworks with global standards such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, the International Sustainability Standards Board, and the Net-Zero Banking Alliance.

This panel offers a timely opportunity to reflect on the evolving role of supervisors in guiding the transition toward a nature-positive and climate-resilient financial system — especially in a region with rich natural capital and heightened exposure to systemic environmental risks.

Opening Remarks:

Roberto Troya, Senior Vice President, WWF-US Country Offices; Regional Director, WWF-Latin America

Babak Abbaszadeh, President and CEO, Toronto Centre

Panelists:

Solange Berstein, Chairwoman, Financial Market Commission of Chile

Aaron Vermeulen, Finance Practice Lead, WWF-International

Hernando José Gómez, Former Director, National Planning Department of Colombia

Moderator:

Socorro Heysen, Board Member, Toronto Centre

Read their biographies here.