Panorama is the fruit of a A$500 million (US$397.2 million) investment designed to deliver a market-leading integrated banking and wealth platform for management of and reporting on investments.

It allows financial planners, direct investors, accountants and anyone who administers or trades any financial product across BTFG to access everything from transaction services to reporting across all asset classes and financial products.

In line with its commitment to providing insights and information to help make more informed investment decisions, Panorama partnered with global research houses to integrate sustainability scoring on selected investments. The sustainability scores for investments are a set of scores which identifies a company’s recent performance in relation to ESG factors.

The sustainability scores are available for the ASX200 listed companies and those managed funds that invest primarily in Australian and international shares.

“Our view was always that we would try to integrate an ESG sleeve onto the Panorama platform,” reveals Emma Pringle, head of customer governance and sustainability at BTFG in Sydney.

She continues: “We also wanted to give financial planners and direct investors access to sustainability ratings. We also wanted to drive their awareness of ESG and sustainability scoring, and their input into their own investments and managed funds.”

There were several motivating factors. Pringle says BTFG strongly believes in the value of the ESG component and wanted to be visible in its commitment to sustainability. It was also willing to be ahead of the curve – even with regard to its own customers’ level of ESG engagement.

“We know that sometimes people don’t want what they don’t know, so we wanted to engage and educate investors in the conversation,” Pringle explains. “We think it’s really important to consider a range of factors when making investment decisions, and the ESG aspect gives financial planners another way they can engage with their customers – and add value.”

The results of the latest BT Australian Financial Health Index, published in February 2017, show signs of changing investor behaviour. While less than 20 per cent of Australians believe it is extremely important for their investments to be in sustainable companies, more than 90 per cent believe it is somewhat important. According to Pringle, the degree of interest is higher still among younger investors.

“We also know millennial investors don’t really know what it means or how to access solutions or products or investments that are aligned with their values. Panorama allows us to talk to the next generation of investors and provide something meaningful to them,” Pringle suggests.

The ESG element is front and centre on the Panorama screen. When a user logs on and looks at a single stock or a managed fund, they see all the traditional market data but also an ESG sustainability score. If the user clicks on the sustainability score they see scores and performance for each aspect of ESG. Controversies that might be associated with a stock are also available.