Case study: How Hua Xia Bank promotes a culture of responsible banking among its employees

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.

Hua Xia Bank identifies stakeholders relevant to impact analysis and target-setting processes every year. In 2024, the bank identified eight key stakeholder groups, including government agencies and regulators, with whom Hua Xia Bank maintains regular consultations, communications, and collaborative engagements. The bank attaches great importance to stakeholder concerns and continuously identifies, assesses, screens, and updates material issues. By assessing the issue materiality to both the bank’s sustainability and the stakeholders, Hua Xia Bank ranks and eventually identifies issues that are material to both the bank and its stakeholders, subsequently implementing responsive measures.

Government and regulators

For engagement with government, regulators, and professional institutions: Hua Xia Bank actively responds to policy requirements from the State Council, NDRC, MEE, NFRA, and PBoC, while researching support measures for implementing regional carbon peaking and carbon neutrality plans across provinces and municipalities.

Regarding participation in regulator-led cooperative research: Hua Xia Bank joined the Climate Risk Management Task Force under NFRA to develop stress testing frameworks for banking transition risks; participated as an evaluation committee member in the 2023 Green Banking Assessment organized by the China Banking Association under the coordination of NFRA’s Policy Research Bureau; contributed to the PBoC’s Transition Finance Research Group; engaged in the Beijing-Qinghai Expert Assistance Program to provide targeted financial support for Qinghai Province, delivering green finance knowledge-sharing sessions for local financial institutions; and participated in developing group standards for energy transition financing entity assessment methodologies led by the China Energy Research Society.

In strengthened collaboration in inclusive finance with relevant government agencies:  Hua Xia Bank fully implements the coordination mechanism requirements on financing support for micro and small enterprises, establishing a three-level (headquarters – branch – sub-branch) rapid response system. All branches maintain close coordination with local regulators, development and reform commissions, and other relevant authorities to promptly obtain the “list” and expedite credit disbursement in accordance with market-oriented principles, legal compliance, and credit approval requirements, thereby ensuring the enterprises can directly and efficiently gain access to credit funds with appropriate interest rates.

In implementing the NDRC’s directives, Hua Xia Bank promptly circulates the recommended enterprise list under the “Xinyidai” (Credit Easy Loan) program, proactively engages in marketing outreach, and establishes regular feedback mechanisms. The bank applies to the SME Bureau of MIIT for regular updates on the list of SDRI enterprises nationwide to continuously support their transformation and upgrading. Furthermore, Hua Xia Bank shares information with the NDRC’s National SME Financing Credit Service Platform to enhance credit information sharing and adoption and facilitate SME financing access.

Engagements and Events

Under the guidance of the Party Working Committee and the Administrative Committee of Beijing Municipal Administrative Center and the Tongzhou District Party Committee and Government, the bank participated in the 5th Beijing Municipal Administrative Center Green Development Forum and independently hosted the parallel session on green finance. The President of Hua Xia Bank delivered a keynote speech titled “Green Finance Facilitating Socioeconomic Green and Low- Carbon Development,” sharing the bank’s innovative practices in enhancing mechanism improvement, product innovation, international cooperation, and ESG & climate risk management, while proposing insights and recommendations on how finance can support green and low-carbon development.

Guided by Tongzhou District Government, Hua Xia Wealth Management Co., Ltd. jointly organized the 2024 Global Wealth Management Forum & 6th ESG Investing Forum for Asset Management in China with leading domestic media outlet Caijing, fostering discussions on new prospects for green investment.

Domestic honours

The “Hua Xia Inclusive Express” product series was awarded the “2024 Excellence Financial Service Cases for Small and Medium-Sized Commercial and Circulation Enterprises in China” by the China Association for Small and Medium Commercial Enterprises.

Hua Xia Bank also received the “2024 Best Practices in Sustainable Development for Listed Companies” and “Best Practices of Board of Directors’ Office Award” from the China Association for Public Companies, as well as the “Top 20 Banks in Comprehensive ESG Performance” and “Exemplary Case in Risk Prevention and Control” awards from China Banking and Insurance Media Company Limited.

Response to external principles and initiatives

Hua Xia Bank has been consistently upholding an open and collaborative approach and actively responds to both domestic and international initiatives. By adhering to global sustainable finance standards, and fully leveraging green finance’s pivotal role in driving the green low-carbon transition and biodiversity conservation, the bank enhances its leadership, outreach, and influence.

In 2019, Hua Xia Bank became a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), committing to integrate ESG factors into investments.

That same year, the bank joined as a founding signatory the Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB), committing to align its business strategy with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.

In 2021, Hua Xia Bank endorsed the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework, adopting the TCFD framework along with the scenario analysis tools to strengthen climate risk management and disclosure capabilities.

Concurrently, the bank co-initiated the Global Joint Initiative on the Partnership of Biodiversity and Finance (PBF) with International Finance Forum (IFF) and World Resources Institute (WRI), and signed the Joint Declaration on Support for Biodiversity Conservation by Banking and Financial Institutions.

In 2022, Hua Xia Bank became a governing member of PBF and collaborated with the China Banking Association and multiple domestic and international banks to jointly release the Joint Action Plan on Support for Biodiversity Conservation by Banking and Financial Institutions.

Starting in 2023, the bank prepared its disclosure reports in reference to the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards officially issued by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), further enhancing the quality and transparency of its information disclosures.

International exchanges and collaboration

In January 2024, the World Bank and China’s Ministry of Finance visited the Huanghua Wind Farm Project supported by Hua Xia Bank and convened a symposium on China’s air pollution prevention and control.

In April 2024, Hua Xia Bank accompanied the Asian Development Bank on an inspection tour of Wu’an Industrial Park in Hebei Province.

In May 2024, the bank was invited to attend the Biodiversity Finance and Nature-related Financial Disclosure Symposium in Huzhou.

In September 2024, Hua Xia Bank was invited to attend the Annual Meeting of the Green Finance Committee organized by the China Society for Finance and Banking, sharing its experience in sustainability risk management.

In November 2024, the bank attended the 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) in China.

In October 2024, Hua Xia Bank participated in a series of Sino-German sustainable finance and climate investment seminars in Germany and Belgium.

That same month, the bank was invited to the 2024 ESG Global Leaders Conference.

In terms of international cooperation, Hua Xia Bank advanced new models and areas of collaboration, focusing on green and low-carbon development in industrial parks to create differentiated service models. The bank partnered with Asian Development Bank on the project for promoting green and low-carbon development in industrial parks, which is a sovereign loan program designed to facilitate the green transition for industrial parks. Based on the predefined criteria for this project, Hua Xia Bank selected eligible sub-projects to provide financing support. Additionally, the bank engaged in discussions with the World Bank regarding its green finance development and the implementation of the China Renewable Energy and Battery Storage Promotion Project. Through collaborations with international institutions such as the World Bank, AFD, and Asian Development Bank, Hua Xia Bank has cumulatively introduced $1 billion in foreign capital via loan transfer projects, earning appreciation from the World Bank and relevant Chinese government agencies for its achievements in green finance international cooperation.

Finance education in communities

Hua Xia Bank is very active in promoting finance education in communities, enhancing financial security awareness to support nationwide anti-fraud initiatives. The bank conducted targeted financial literacy programs for key demographic groups including seniors, new urban residents, persons with disabilities, and youth, focusing on disseminating financial consumption and investment knowledge. In 2024, Hua Xia Bank invested RMB 6.97 million in public education services, and organized 21,325 public education events with a total of 102.51 million engagements.

How does Hua Xia Bank promote a culture of responsible banking among its employees?

In its 2024 PRB Reporting and Self-Assessment Template Hua Xia Bank reports that it took the following actions to promote a culture of responsible banking among its employees:

Guided by the core theme of “Serving the New Era, Building a New Hua Xia” and committed to the brand philosophy of “Sustainability for a Better Future,” Hua Xia Bank regards “sustainability” as its fundamental code of conduct and aims for “a better future” as its ultimate objective. The bank maintains strategic steadfastness while exercising tactical flexibility, strengthening its corporate banking foundation through integrated financial services. Hua Xia Bank is actively cultivating new growth drivers in digitalization and retail banking, developing distinctive strengths in green finance and wealth management, and establishing new regional footholds in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, Yangtze River Delta, and Greater Bay Area. The goal is to evolve into a distinctive, high-quality, and competitive national joint-stock commercial bank, steadily progressing toward the vision of becoming a “large and strong, stable yet excellent” modern financial group, thereby making greater contributions to advancing Chinese-style modernization.

Hua Xia Bank enhances staff understanding of the PRB Principles through specialized conferences and training programs, with a particular focus on helping employees understand their relevance to departmental operations and ensuring effective implementation. The bank’s PRB Principles Task Force maintains active communication with UNEP FI to stay informed about the latest domestic and international progress in implementation and ensures effective internal dissemination. As of the end of 2024, 100% of relevant employees had received comprehensive training in financial inclusion.

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.

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References:

This case study is based on published information by Hua Xia Bank, 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:

https://www.hxb.com.cn/en/images/about-hua-xia-bank/investor-relationship/prbreport/2025/07/25/D0D5466205619DAEE2AD4DD8186EF5CA.pdf

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