KUALA LUMPUR: HSBC Amanah Malaysia Bhd (HSBC Amanah) is now an official member of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) via it's local chapter, the Global Compact Malaysia (GCMY).
HSBC Amanah is currently the only international bank in Malaysia that is a member of GCMY, which evidently follows the footsteps of HSBC Group that has been an active member of UNGC since it was launched in 2000.
"We are proud to have been invited to become a member of UNGC. This invitation and our membership to UNGC through GCMY is an important part of our sustainability journey," HSBC Amanah chief executive officer Oz Ahmed said in a statement today.
"The financial services sector has a critical role to play in supporting sustainable business activities and there is a need for the industry to change the nature of capital and increasingly direct it in more sustainable ways and Islamic banking is well placed to assist in this area," he said.
The UNGC is a leadership platform for the development, implementation and disclosure of responsible corporate practices.
It is the largest corporate sustainability initiative in the
world, with more than 9,500 companies and 3,000 non-business signatories based in over 160 countries, and more than 70 local networks.
This voluntary initiative is a call to companies to align their operations and strategies with the UNGC 10 principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, and to take action in support of UN goals and issues embodied in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
"Our UNGC membership also goes hand in hand with Bank Negara Malaysia's value-based intermediation (VBI) initiative which aims to have Islamic financial institutions create greater value and impact by focusing on the triple bottom line which takes into consideration Prosperity, People and Planet instead of traditional bottom lines.
"As a leader in VBI, HSBC Amanah is committed to transitioning into a sustainable banking entity, and as part of this journey, we are providing support to our customers in transitioning to a low-carbon economy as well as delivering shared value within the communities we serve and the environment we live in; today and tomorrow," Oz said.
UNGC also considers integrity and accountability as critical factors to progress its responsible business agenda to ensure the organisation's objectives are achieved.
Therefore, UNGC requires its members to make an annual submission of a Communication on Progress (COP) that details members efforts to implement UNGC 10 principles.
"With regards to the COP, the HSBC Group has submitted the Group's annual ESG report to fulfill the COP requirement and for us at HSBC Amanah, we intend to follow suit by
submitting our own non-financial disclosure to fulfill the requirement using our VBI isclosure that was published in 2019 as a starting base," Oz said.