As the initial bank partner of CHUEE program, the Industrial Bank (IB) emerged as runner-up after Deutshe Bank in the Sustainable Deal of the Year category at the Financial Times Sustainable Banking Awards ceremony held in London on June 7, 2007. The award is one of the five categories of the FT Sustainable Banking Award. IB is the first and sole Chinese financial institution to receive the honor.
IB signed the risk-sharing agreement with IFC on the cooperative energy efficiency finance program in Shanghai in May 2006, marking the first commercial bank in China to enter into the energy efficiency finance. By May 2007, IFC has provided intensive technical assistance in the areas of project development, credit underwriting, EE project due diligence and marketing to IB in the implementation of financing energy efficiency projects. The program was formally kicked off in the end of 2006 after the foreign currency request was approved by the authorities. Within less than half year since the first CHUEE loan approved in January 2007, IB has funded 9 energy efficiency projects with a total loan of RMB 130 million (17 million U.S. dollars) across the country, helping China reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than two million tons of CO2 and equivalent.
"This is very encouraging for such a young bank like ours, and we will try harder to contribute our efforts for a greener and healthier world, which is also in the long-term interests of our development as a commercial bank," Zhu Liyong, General Manager of the corporate banking department of the Industrial Bank told Xinhua News Agency at the award night in London.
This year is the second year of the FT Sustainable Banking award since its establishment. The Award has been better received than last year. A total of 151 entries from 100 banks in 50 countries were sent to the judge panel for the awards, compared with 90 entries from 48 banks in 28 countries last year. There are many renowned financial institutions short-listed and the competition was intense. The judging panel, which included leading figures involved in sustainable finance and development, initially narrowed down the entries to a short-list of five banks for each of the categories of awards, before selecting the overall winners. Eight banks, two from each region, were shortlisted for the emerging markets category.
Annex:
List of winners of 2007 FT Sustainable Banking Awards
Sustainable Bank of the Year
ABN AMRO, Netherlands
Runner-up: Barclays, UK
Emerging Markets Sustainable Bank of the Year
ABN AMRO Bank India
Regional emerging markets awards:
Asia – ABN AMRO Bank India
Eastern Europe – Dexia Banka Slovensko, Slovakia
Latin America – Banco do Brasil
Middle East & Africa – Nedbank, South Africa
Sustainable Bankers of the Year
Banamex / Citi Compartamos Mexico
Runner-up: Center-Invest Bank, Russia
Sustainable Deal of the Year
Deutsche Bank/Goldman Sachs (International Finance Facility for Immunisation)
Runner-up: Industrial Bank, China (Financing for energy-efficiency projects)
Achievement in Carbon Finance
Raiffeisen Zentralbank, Austria (Nitrous oxide emission reduction project)
Runner-up: Banco Sumitomo Mitsui Brasileiro, Brazil (CER transaction involving 10 CDM projects)
The judges for the awards:
John Willman, UK Business Editor, Financial Times (Panel Co-Chair)
Lars Thunell, Executive Vice President and CEO, IFC (Panel Co-Chair)
Paul Clements-Hunt, Head of Unit, United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI)
Sergio Rosa, CEO, PREVI
Paul Grimes, COO, FTSE Group
Tessa Tennant, Chair, Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia
For more details on the FT Sustainable Banking Awards, please visit www.ft.com/sustainablebanking
