CIMB joins pact for responsible banking under UN
NEW YORK: CIMB Group Holdings Bhd (CIMB) became one of the Founding Signatories of the Principles for Responsible Banking, committing to strategically align its business with the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
As a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Banking, CIMB joins a coalition of 130 banks worldwide, representing over US$47 trillion in assets, committed to play a crucial role towards achieving a sustainable future.
Taking place at the start of the UN General Assembly, the official launch of the Principles for Responsible Banking marked the beginning of the most significant partnership to date between the global banking industry and the UN.
“The UN 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,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the launch event, attended by the 130 Founding Signatories and over 45 of their CEOs.
CIMB CEO Tengku Zafrul Aziz said “As a founding member of the UNEP-FI 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.”
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) executive director Inger Andersen commented, “A banking industry that plans for the risks associated with climate change and other environmental challenges can not only drive the transition to low-carbon and climate-resilient economies, it can benefit from it. When the financial system shifts its capital away from resourcehungry, brown investments to those that back nature as a solution, everybody wins in the long-term.”
The Principles for Responsible Banking are supported by a strong implementation and accountability framework. By signing them, CIMB commits to being transparent on both its positive and negative impact on people and the planet.
CIMB will focus on where it has the greatest impact – in its core business – and will set and implement targets to scale up the positive, and address any negative impacts in line with global and national objectives.
The Principles for Responsible Banking will also provide CIMB 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.
CIMB is the only banking group in Asean to be a founding member of the Principles for Responsible Banking.
Having embedded sustainability into its current strategic growth plan, Forward23, CIMB has 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 October 1 to 2, 2019 in Kuala Lumpur.
The UN Principles for Responsible Banking are a guide for the global banking industry to respond to, drive and benefit from a sustainable development economy.
Antonio Guterres