The FINANCIAL -- Kenya Banking Association (KBA) and the Mongolian
Bankers Association (MBA), members of the IFC-supported Sustainable
Banking Network (SBN), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to
advance environmental and social risk management and sustainable
financing practices for the Kenyan and Mongolian banking sector.
The signing ceremony took place during the sustainable finance
related learning visit of the MBA representatives to Nairobi,
facilitated and supported by the Dutch development bank FMO and IFC.
Mongolia and Kenya have both launched national policies or voluntary
principles on sustainable finance. National sustainable finance
guidelines and principles define how financial institutions can manage
environmental and social risks and meet growing financing needs for
green and inclusive economic growth. The Kenya-Mongolia cross border
exchange is an example of peer knowledge exchange and learning visits
conducted by SBN members, according to IFC.
As one of the founding members of SBN, the MBA has successfully
positioned itself as a consensus builder, mobilizing the entire banking
community to jointly develop, adopt and implement the Mongolian
Sustainable Finance Principles. Both IFC and FMO have been supporting
this initiative since 2013. Mongolian Bankers Association forged a
strong public-private partnership with the Bank of Mongolia and
Mongolian Ministry of Environment and Tourism and the Mongolian
Sustainable Finance Principles have become the key component of the
Mongolian Government’s Green Development Policy.
The Kenya banking industry, through the KBA, adopted the Sustainable
Finance Guiding Principles in March 2015. KBA, with the support of DEG
and FMO, has developed a capacity building program for banks, including
an innovative e-Learning platform. KBA is working with the industry to
develop a green bonds market with the objective of having individual
bank issuance.
“We plan to share and learn best practices on the implementation of
sustainable finance principles, developing our secretariats as centers
for knowledge sharing in our respective regions,” said Tumurkhuu
Davaakhuu, Vice President of the Mongolia Banking Association.
Knowledge sharing topics will include work on capacity development,
knowledge sharing, directives, policy documents and toolkits, as well as
reporting, monitoring and evaluation sustainable finance performance.
Mongolia and Kenya will also discuss the Green Bond related subjects
that are being actively pursued by the both associations.
“At KBA, we are pleased to see the tremendous interest and support
from FMO and IFC in advancing Sustainable Finance practices between our
two associations. We look forward to the learning partnership” said
Habil Olaka, CEO of KBA.
“FMO is proud to be a founding partner of the sustainable finance
initiatives of both the MBA in Mongolia and KBA in Kenya. Over the past
years, we have seen the banking sector of both countries develop and
embrace sustainable finance principles. The strong local ownership
demonstrated by the KBA and MBA is the way forward in continuous
advancement of such initiatives. We believe connecting both partners is
of great value to advance global cooperation and further develop a
sustainable banking sector.” said Huib-Jan de Ruijter, Director
Financial Institutions at FMO, The Netherlands.
“IFC is proud to connect Mongolian and Kenyan banks, as part of the
wider SBN network, to share experience in this shared journey toward
sustainable finance,” said Tuyen D. Nguyen, IFC Resident Representative
in Mongolia. “Higher standards of environmental and social risk
management by financial institutions are a powerful way to manage
concrete business risks, increase market trust, and attract investment,
especially toward green financing.”
sumber: finchannel