Entec Attends the First FT Sustainable Banking Awards
Entec was invited to attend the first global sustainable banking awards sponsored by the Financial Times, the International Finance Corporation and FTSE held on Monday June 12th at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London. Entec attended as guest of Standard Chartered Bank, with whom we are currently engaged in a three year contract to provide corporate responsibility advice. Standard Chartered Bank was nominated within the ‘Emerging Markets Sustainable Bank of the Year’.
The first year of these awards has seen an impressive response with 90 entries from 48 banks in 28 countries. The awards ceremony was attended by 250 international bankers. Nominee banks included: ABN Ambro, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, West LB, Barclays, Westpac, Citigroup and Calyon.
An array of highly varied nominations was presented throughout the evening, demonstrating the opportunities for banks to innovate in the development of sustainable banking products. Winning submissions were as follows:
| Award | Winning Bank | Description of nomination |
| FT 2006 Sustainable Bank of the Year | HSBC | Leading adopter of the Equator Principles, the world’s first major bank to go Carbon Neutral. Focussed on business development opportunities internationally. |
| Emerging Markets Sustainable Bank of the Year | Banco ABN Amro Real of Brazil | Application of sustainability as a business driver across key business lines with 4,280 socio-environmental deals approved in 2005. Launch of Brazil’s first carbon credit fund. |
| Sustainable Deal of the Year | Citigroup plus Banamex (Mexican arm) and Financiera Compartamos (provider of Mexican Microfinance) | First ever peso-dominated investment grade bond for Mexico’s leading microfinance provider, catalysing an expected 60,000 new loans to women micro-entrepreneurs in Mexico. |
| Sustainable Energy Deal of the Year | Credit Suisse | Flotation of Suntech Power Holdings (Chinese Solar Energy Co.) on the New York Stock Exchange. |
| Sustainable Bankers of the Year | West LB | Applied risk management expertise of the sustainability management team to differentiate West LB as mandated lead arranger for complex transactions. |
The awards mark a turning point in the financial sector in terms of the recognition that sustainable banking makes sound commercial sense. A survey of bankers carried out by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) found that 65% reported tangible benefits from sustainable policies including developing business in new areas and obtaining competitive advantage in areas such as energy efficiency. There are a number of reasons why this now makes commercial sense including: the need to avoid reputational risk (and therefore financial risk); soaring energy prices and concerns over energy security; increasing environmental regulation on businesses; and genuine opportunities to invest in growing environmental technologies markets.
The implementation of the second version of the Equator Principles later this year is likely to cause many of the adopting banks some problems in terms of compliance as they set higher standards in terms of community engagement and consultation, community and worker grievances, biodiversity protection, greenhouse gas monitoring, and increased disclosure of information. There is also a scarcity of outside consultants with experience in community relations.
Entec’s Corporate Responsibility team is currently in discussion with a number of financial institutions including SRI Analysts to develop a piece of research on corporate responsibility within the finance sector. We hope that this will enable us to capitalise upon the experience and track record we have gained through our work with Standard Chartered Bank and the project finance work we undertake on behalf of Barclays and other banks.
For further details call Maurice Hoban on 01926 439082 or Sarah Pratt on 01606 354831.
FT Article http://news.ft.com/cms/s/988f8d0e-fa79-11da-b7ff-0000779e2340.html
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