MENA’s International Bank of the Future is committed to its sustainability strategy and making banking in MENA better for everyone.
Manama, Bahrain: After launching an ambitious sustainability strategy last year, Bank ABC Group publishes its first dedicated Group Sustainability Disclosures Report, demonstrating progress across its international implementation programme.
In 2023, 12% of the Bank ABC Group’s lending portfolio, amounting to US2.3 billion, was allocated to sustainable finance. In addition to increasing investment in ESG initiatives and community partnerships, the Bank proactively reduced its environmental impact, recycling 40% of waste across the Group and achieving 100% renewable energy usage at the office of its subsidiary, Bank ABC Jordan and 88% in the London office of its subsidiary ABCIB.
Sael Al Waary, Group CEO, Bank ABC said, “Our approach to sustainability extends from our purpose – to make banking in MENA better for everyone. We believe the banking industry has a central role to play in funding the transition and financing the enormous capital expenditure required to shift to a more inclusive and sustainable global economy. Bank ABC reinforces our collective commitment to driving this transition, by making sustainability a strategic priority, as we accelerate on this journey.”
The Report outlines a comprehensive sustainability strategy, with a 3-year programme of initiatives across five strategic pillars: Governance, Operations, Risk Management, Financing the Transition, People and Communities. The first year focused on measuring the Bank’s environmental and social impact and developing the necessary processes and frameworks to improvement. The Bank has defined its ESG KPIs and measured them to ensure progress can be monitored and evaluated on an ongoing basis.
Mr. Al Waary added: “We believe that our focus on sustainability will build resilience and unlock value. Our sustainability journey is building momentum and we are already seeing innovative product opportunities. We have launched green retail finance products through our Jordan and Egypt subsidiaries. Meanwhile, our subsidiary Banco ABC Brasil has launched its ESG product development programme, presenting potential product synergies across the Group.”
Further, the Bank has made significant strides in measuring its environmental footprint, most notably the capture of emissions, energy, water, and waste data. This deeper understanding allows for implementation of initiatives to further reduce the Group’s environmental impact.
An important element of the Strategy is to integrate sustainability into the Group’s risk management systems and frontline teams, Bank ABC has successfully piloted a new borrower ESG assessment and reviewed its method of climate scenario analysis and stress testing, based on Network for Greening the Financial System scenarios. In addition, the Bank has developed a Sustainable Finance Framework, which is aligned to UN Sustainable Development Goals and International Capital Market Association/Loan Market Association (ICMA/LMA) sustainability principles.
Bank ABC Group Sustainability highlights in 2023 include:
- The Group recycled 40% of all waste.
- Bank ABC became one of five MENA banks to be a PCAF (The Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials) signatory.
- The Group mobilised US$2.3 bn of sustainable finance, 12% of its loans and advances.
- Launched a group-wide staff engagement survey which achieved an 87% response rate.
- Provided CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Investments of US$5.1m, representing 1.4% of pre-tax profits.
The Group’s Sustainability Disclosures Report covers the financial year 2023 (1st January to 31st December 2023) and has been prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards 2021, Central Bank of Bahrain’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Requirements and Bahrain Bourse ESG Reporting Guide. Previous sustainability-linked disclosures have been included in the Group’s 2022 Annual Report.
Mr. Sael Al Waary
Bank ABC Group CEO