KUALA LUMPUR (July 19): Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) is committed to allocating RM50 billion in sustainable financing as part of its sustainability policy which is embarked in its five-year strategic plan (M25) that runs until 2025.

The commitment covers direct lending or investment, and services related to arranging, syndicating, fundraising or underwriting as well as advisory, all of which will integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria.

The group is currently developing a sustainable product framework to complement existing efforts in the area of sustainable finance and aims to implement the framework this year.

Amongst others, this framework will outline the methodology and procedures to classify financial products and services offered by Maybank into various categories, including green, sustainable and/or transition solutions.

At the same time, the banking group will be scaling up existing green, social and sustainability (GSS) bonds/Sukuk, project financing for green projects, ESG thematic funds, GSS loans sustainability-linked trade products, sustainable supply chain financing platform, sustainability linked derivatives, structured products and providing new green solutions via the group’s community financial services and insurance sectors.

Speaking at a media briefing on Maybank’s Sustainability Day, its group president and chief executive officer Datuk Abdul Farid Alias said the group is actively seeking to provide financing for renewable energy projects going forward amid growing activities surrounding renewable energy.

Apart from renewable energy projects, Maybank is also looking into providing financing to hybrid and electric vehicles where it saw a huge spike in finance demand in those areas.

“Besides that, there are also various aspects of [sustainability] financing, such as the social aspect, for example [having] innovative and low-cost mortgage financing to allow people to buy their first home and social impact deposit that we launched earlier this year,” said Maybank chief sustainability officer Shahril Azuar Jimin.

Previously, Maybank said it will stop financing new coal activities as part of its sustainable agenda.

On top of the RM50 billion allocation in sustainable finance, the key sustainability commitments are to improve the lives of one million households across ASEAN, to achieve a carbon neutral position by 2030 and net zero carbon equivalent position by 2050, to achieve one million hours per year of sustainability activities and deliver one thousand significant United Nations’ sustainable development goals (UN-SDG) related outcomes.

Farid said these commitments give a better understanding as to how the group will prioritise material issues and re-define its sustainability agenda, including setting of goals, targets and key performance indicators (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 in a statement.

He added that as part of the efforts to ensure strict adherence to its sustainability strategic priority, the group will monitor its progress throughout the M25 journey with tools and measurement parameters that have been, or are being developed, to guide and track all major commitments.