SEB AB Chief Executive Officer Johan Torgeby, who spent years as a corporate banker pitching green bonds to issuers back when “no one” wanted them, says the bank will work with clients to improve their sustainability credentials. But if they don’t step up, he says SEB will sever ties.

"You have very many long-term relationships," Torgeby said by phone. "Today, you view those relationships in a different light than you might have done 10 years ago." Though it’s not "an easy thing...you have to decide if you want to disengage completely."