Case study: How Bank Aladin Syariah works with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices

Bank Aladin Syariah is a publicly traded digital Islamic commercial bank in Indonesia, dedicated to sustainability. After a significant transformation from a conventional commercial bank to a digital bank in 2021, the Bank continues to grow by employing an omni-channel strategy (online to offline). This expansion is driven by its ongoing collaboration with the Alfamart Group, one of Indonesia’s largest retailers, as well as through the Bank’s mobile banking application. Bank Aladin Syariah is a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) and is, accordingly, working with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities. Tweet This!
This case study is based on the 2023 PRB Reporting and Self-Assessment Template by Bank Aladin Syariah, prepared in relation to its implementation of the PRB, that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Which Principles for Responsible Banking have been addressed?
The Principles for Responsible Banking addressed in this case are:
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- Principle 3: Clients and Customers
- Principle 4: Stakeholders
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- How Bank Aladin Syariah proceeded with stakeholder identification and consultation, and
- How Bank Aladin Syariah worked with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities
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Stakeholder identification and consultation
Please describe which stakeholders (or groups/ types of stakeholders) you have identified, consulted, engaged, collaborated or partnered with for the purpose of implementing the Principles and improving your bank’s impacts. This should include a high-level overview of how your bank has identified relevant stakeholders, what issues were addressed/results achieved and how they fed into the action planning process.
Bank Aladin Syariah employs a materiality assessment to identify stakeholders and issues relevant to each group. The methodology is as follows:
- Identification: Recognizing all stakeholders crucial to the Bank’s sustainability and identifying their perspectives and interests;
- Prioritization: Ranking topics by importance to stakeholders (via surveys) and to the Bank (through discussions with senior management);
- Validation: Presenting findings and recommendations to senior management for validation;
- Refinement: Adjusting topics and strategies to reflect their importance and priority to stakeholders.
This process is conducted annually to update or reconfirm Standard Topics, ensuring they remain relevant to the Bank’s operations. Further details on stakeholder engagement are outlined in the “Determination and Establishment of Standards Topic According to the GRI” section on page 6 of Bank Aladin Syariah’s 2023 Sustainability Report.
Additionally, Bank Aladin Syariah actively participates in webinars and workshops under the PRB, aimed at expanding knowledge of sustainable banking, including climate target setting and best practices in addressing sustainability challenges. The Bank also engages in UN Global Compact seminars and training, focusing on human rights and gender equality, to foster internal change at Bank Aladin Syariah.
How did Bank Aladin Syariah work with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities?
In its 2023 PRB Reporting and Self-Assessment Template Bank Aladin Syariah reports that it works with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities as follows:
Bank Aladin Syariah is dedicated to achieving or surpassing its targets in Financial Health & Inclusion and Circularity. To support this commitment, the Bank has developed or is developing the following policies and engagement processes:
- Refinement of the Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct, emphasizing the Bank’s goal to serve all customers without discrimination based on race, gender, etc., and reinforcing its commitment to sustainability, including sustainable financing practices.
- Enhancement of the Commercial Financing Procedure to incorporate Indonesia’s Green Taxonomy classification measures.
- Establishment of a financial literacy and inclusion function to oversee the execution of the Bank’s financial literacy and inclusion initiatives.
- Strengthening relationships with current partners to expand services to MSMEs and low-income segments.
Bank Aladin Syariah also follows an Exclusion List, prohibiting lending to businesses engaged in activities that violate sharia principles, such as the production, trading, or distribution of alcohol, gambling, production or activities involving harmful or exploitative forms of forced labour/harmful child labour, or any activities deemed illegal by Indonesian law or international agreements.
Looking ahead, the Bank plans to hold one-on-one discussions with selected corporate clients, particularly in the textile/garment and construction industries, with the aim of supporting them with financing in pursuing circular opportunities.
UN Principles for Responsible Banking: Accelerating a positive global transition for people and the planet
With over 300 signatory banks representing almost half of the global banking industry, the Principles for Responsible Banking are the world’s foremost sustainable banking framework. Through these Principles, the banking community takes action to align core strategies, decision-making, lending and investment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and international agreements such as the Paris Climate Agreement.
FBRH Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) Assurance:
First class PRB assurance services: The result of solid, hands-on ESG/ Sustainability experience
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- FBRH is a GRI Certified Training Partner (Global), ISEP Training Centre and a member of CPD.
- FBRH builds trust. Over 200 reviews from top professionals from around the world demonstrate our ability to build strong, trusting business relationships.
- FBRH possesses a unique skill set that combines ESG/sustainability certified training, experience in advisory services and report preparation, and ESG/sustainability report assurance.
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The combination of all the above empowers FBRH to provide first class Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) assurance services.
References:
This case study is based on published information by Bank Aladin Syariah, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:
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