Commercial International Bank (CIB), Egypt’s leading private sector bank, is celebrating a milestone in its journey as a pioneer in the Egyptian banking sector. The date 22 September 2020 marks one year since Hussein Abaza, Chief Executive Officer and CIB Board Member, joined 130 CEOs representing banks from over 49 countries representing over USD 64 trillion in assets to sign the United Nations Environment Program – Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI) Principles for Responsible Banking. In the first year since the signing, CIB worked on all six principles with a focus on Principle 1: Alignment, Principle 2: Impact and Target Setting, and Principle 5: Governance and Culture.
“In the last year, CIB has made major headway in cementing our roles as active participants in the journey of economic, social and environmental change,” said Hisham Ezz El-Arab, Chairperson and Managing Director of CIB. “The merger of our business and sustainability strategies into one framework, the Sustainable Finance Division, will propel the Bank forward towards our vision.”
In alignment with principle 5: Governance and Culture, CIB was the first Egyptian bank to launch a Sustainable Finance Division, appointing Dr. Dalia Abdel Kader as its first Chief Sustainability Officer to head the fully integrated division as an expression of the Bank’s institutional commitment to align with rising stakeholders’ concerns and to strengthen CIB’s pledge to value creation. The purpose of the division is to ensure the centrality of sustainability as a core business strategy and to provide a robust platform capable of ingraining sustainability into the Bank, propelling CIB further towards our vision. The division is governed by a Sustainability Steering Committee, composed of senior-level stakeholders representing the majority of the Bank’s functions.
To serve principle 1: Alignment, CIB developed a new comprehensive Policy Framework Architecture to ensure that CIB’s operations, vision and direction are aligned with national laws and regulations and international frameworks.
On the Impact front, and in alignment with principle 2: Impact and Target Setting, CIB has been focused on having an impact baseline assessment to identify its most significant positive impact to capitalize on, and its negative impacts to mitigate them. This a bank-wide exercise that is undertaken through collaborative efforts to cover all bank aspects, focusing specifically on our portfolio impact. CIB aims to strike a sound balance between profitability and its commitment to sustainability by ensuring that its impact remains positive and minimizes any direct or indirect negative impact.
The Principles for Responsible Banking provide CIB with an effective framework to systematically identify and seize new business opportunities created by the emerging sustainable development economy, while at the same time enables the Bank to effectively identify and address related risks. CIB will continue to support this grand initiative while working adamantly on creating a positive impact in banking sector in Egypt and the region.
