KUALA LUMPUR: Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) aims to provide RM50 billion of sustainable financing by 2025 under its long-term sustainability initiative.
Maybank group president and chief executive officer Datuk Abdul Farid Alias said the target included direct lending or investment, and services related to arranging, syndicating, fundraising or underwriting as well as advisory.
"Our sustainable product framework, which covers green, sustainable and transition solutions, is being developed internally and will be implemented within the year.
"Previously, we financed RM3.45 billion of renewable energy projects in the financial year 2020 (FY20)," Farid said at Maybank Sustainability Day 2021 virtual press conference today.
The RM50 billion objective is part of Maybank's long-term sustainability commitments announced today to propel its growth and strengthen its position towards becoming a regional environmental, social and governance (ESG) leader by 2025.
The bank has included four key sustainability commitments in its framework namely mobilising RM50 billion in sustainable finance by 2025, improving the lives of one million households across Asean by 2025, carbon neutral position and living sustainability.
The commitments will be translated down to the various business and support sectors as well as subsidiaries as specific key performance indicators (KPIs) for Maybank.
Farid said the commitments were part of the sustainability strategic priority under the group's M25 Plan.
Delving into details on the progress of the four commitments thus far, he said these would support the other two strategic priorities under the M25 Plan, namely being pervasively digital and creating new value drivers for Maybank.
"The commitments give a better understanding as to how Maybank will prioritise material issues and re-define its sustainability agenda, including setting of goals, targets and KPIs.
"In line with this undertaking, we have elevated our group sustainability council to an exco sustainability committee, and established a board sustainability committee to reinforce our commitments in driving our sustainability agenda into the future," he said.
Farid said it would monitor its progress throughout the M25 journey with tools and measurement parameters that had been or were being developed, to guide and track all major commitments.
"These will be undertaken concurrently as we continue to drive innovation to provide the best customer experience, aligned with our purpose of humanising financial services," he said.
Group chief risk officer Gilbert Kohnke said Maybank's sustainability commitments were guided by a comprehensive risk management approach with ESG considerations continuously being integrated into business decision making.
Kohnke said this included identifying material high ESG risk sectors, implementing industry-specific ESG criteria and establishing risk assessment criteria for all sectors.
"Our deliverables in the area of ESG follows through from our sustainability journey taken over the years, including our commitments of 'No Deforestation, No New Peat and No Exploitation' (NDPE), not providing financing to black-listed activities deemed not in line with the group's core values and no financing of new coal activities while transitioning together with existing borrowers to achieve sustainable renewable energy mix over the medium- to long-term," he said.
He added that Maybank's key priority would be to continue ensuring that all key business decisions would be based on ESG principles, with customers and the community being at the foremost of everything undertaken.