CIMB signs UN Principles for Responsible Banking
PETALING JAYA: CIMB Group Holdings Bhd has joined a coalition of 130 banks worldwide, representing over US$47 trillion in assets, to be one of the founding signatories of the Principles for Responsible Banking.
The second-largest banking group in Malaysia said in a statement yesterday that as a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Banking, it would commit to strategically align its business with the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Commenting on the group’s involvement in the Un-backed framework, CIMB group CEO Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz said: “As a founding member of the UNEP-FI (United Nations Environment Programme-finance Iniative) Principles for Responsible Banking, we are convinced that only in an inclusive society, founded on human dignity, equality and the sustainable use of natural resources, can our employees, customers and other stakeholders thrive.”
“By signing the Principles, we commit to using our products, services and relationships to support and accelerate the fundamental changes in our economies and lifestyles necessary to achieve shared prosperity for both current and future generations,” he added.
CIMB is the only banking group in Asean to be a founding member of the Principles for Responsible Banking, which was officially launched at the start of the UN General Assembly in New York, over the weekend to mark the beginning of the most significant partnership to date between the global banking industry and the UN. The event was attended by the 130 founding signatories and more than 45 of their CEOS.
According to UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, the Principles for Responsible Banking are a guide for the global banking industry to respond to, drive and benefit from a sustainable development economy.
“The Principles create the accountability that can realise responsibility, and the ambition that can drive action,” he said.
Meanwhile, UNEP executive director Inger Andersen said a banking industry that plans for the risks associated with climate change and other environmental challenges can drive the transition to low-carbon and climate-resilient economies and benefit from it.
“When the financial system shifts its capital away from resource-hungry, brown investments to those that back nature as a solution, everybody wins in the long term,” she explained.
CIMB noted the Principles for Responsible Banking were supported by a strong implementation and accountability framework.
By signing them, CIMB said it would commit to being transparent on both its positive and negative impact on people and the planet. It would focus on where it had the greatest impact – in its core business – and would set and implement targets to scale up the positive, and address any negative impacts in line with global and national objectives, it added.
According to CIMB, the Principles for Responsible Banking would also provide the group with an effective framework to systematically identify and seize new business opportunities created by the emerging sustainable development economy, while at the same time, enabling the bank to effectively identify and address related risks.
Having embedded sustainability into its current strategic growth plan, Forward23, CIMB had also begun engaging with key stakeholders including regulators, investors, customers, suppliers, employees and communities for them to join its journey to create a more sustainable, resilient future for all.
As one of the first steps towards catalysing action for a more sustainable tomorrow through the business and finance sector, CIMB will be hosting The Cooler Earth, its inaugural sustainability summit, on Oct 1-2 in Kuala Lumpur.
We are convinced that only in an inclusive society, founded on human dignity, equality and the sustainable use of natural resources, can our employees, customers and other stakeholders thrive.
Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz