Jin Ok-dong, president of Shinhan Bank, presides over the first meeting of the ESG Management Committee at Shinhan Bank Headquarters in Seoul on Aug. 30. (Photo: Shinhan Bank)

Shinhan Bank held the first meeting of the ESG Management Committee with a view to establishing a decision-making system for ESG management on Aug. 30.

The ESG Management Committee is an ESG consultative body presided over by the CEO. Its members are Shinhan Bank’s top executives.

It establishes the bank’s ESG strategies and implementation plans, discusses collaboration among business units and plays a role in making final resolutions on ESG policies and projects.

The first ESG Management Committee meeting was held through a video conferencing system. Participants discussed ESG management strategies in the second half of the year and established a detailed ESG-related business implementation plan.

In particular, they diagnosed ESG management by referring to various ESG evaluation indicators at home and abroad to set a direction and target level to reach for the successful implementation of ESG management.

Shinhan Bank plans to actively practice ESG management, with the ESG Management Committee taking the lead in line with main ESG activities — the Zero Carbon Drive in the environmental aspect, fostering startups and supporting the financially marginalized in the social aspect and the Social Value Measurement Framework (SVMF) in the governance aspect.

“It is the first step in the right direction in ESG management to set an example for others,” said Jin Ok-dong, president of Shinhan Bank. “Putting ESG management into practice matters most. Let’s map out, implement, and internalize ESG plans across the board.”

Shinhan Bank is taking the lead in eco-friendly financial practices to cope with climate change by following Shinhan Financial Group’s ESG strategy system focusing on eco-friendliness, win-win growth and trust.

Therefore, the bank joined the Equator Principles for the first time as a Korean commercial bank, signed up for the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), expressed its strong support for the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), and designated Shinhan Headquarters Building as an ESG practice building.

The TCFD was set up with an eye towards developing voluntary climate-related financial risk disclosures in 2015.

In a related development, Shinhan Bank signed a business agreement to spread ESG management to its partners, which are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with the National Commission for Corporate Partnership on Sept. 7.

Through the business agreement, the two organizations will provide the partners through various financial and non-financial services including ESG-related education, consulting and lower interest rates so that the partners will be able to strengthen and internalize ESG management.

Shinhan Bank will lower the annual interest rate of Shinhan ESG Excellent Win-Win Support Loan by 0.2 to 0.3 percent and provide various education and consulting services the partners to help them enhance their ESG response capabilities with insufficient budgets and human resources.

The National Commission for Corporate Partnership is implementing an ESG support project to offer ESG education to partner SMEs and examine and measure their capacities and carry out on-site inspections to help partner SMEs raise their awareness of ESG management and build up their capabilities. Moreover, it is also support companies performing excellently in terms of ESG evaluation indices.

“We expect this business agreement to expand SMEs’ understanding of ESG management and ESG evaluation-based financial support,” a Shinhan Bank official said.

“Shinhan Bank will lead the way in spreading ESG management through finance by systematizing and expanding ESG-based financial support.”

Shinhan Bank was selected as a generous company for win-win growth between large and small companies and small and medium-sized venture startups’ innovation-powered growth for the first time in the financial sector.

It is also actively participating in the Generous Company 2.0 Program to help SMEs increase their ESG capabilities.