Case study: How the SBI Shinsei Bank Group identifies and works on strategic business opportunities to increase positive and reduce negative impacts

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.

The SBI Shinsei Bank Group believes that collaboration with stakeholders, including customers, is vital, as outlined in the “Group Sustainability Management Policy.” The Group strives to enhance and strengthen its initiatives through ongoing dialogue and address environmental and social challenges through stakeholder engagement. Beyond collaborating with corporate clients, the SBI Shinsei Bank Group is also undertaking the following initiatives:

Individual Customers:

• Developed and published the “Policy on Customer-Oriented Business Conduct and Action Plan.”
• Published an impact report on the sustainability deposits’ allocated assets, which was distributed to depositors and made available on the Group’s website.

Financial Institutions:

• Implemented transition-linked loans via syndicated loans involving ten banks, including the SBI Shinsei Bank Group.

Employees:

• Conducted engagement surveys.
• Held monthly roundtable discussions between executives and employees

How did the SBI Shinsei Bank Group identify and work on strategic business opportunities to increase positive and reduce negative impacts?

In its 2024 PRB Report the SBI Shinsei Bank Group reports that it identified and worked on strategic business opportunities to increase positive and reduce negative impacts as follows:

The SBI Shinsei Bank Group believes that advancing finance aimed at addressing environmental and social challenges will enhance the Group’s positive impacts and generate new business opportunities. Consequently, the Group has set a target to originate a total of 5 trillion yen in sustainable finance by March 2031. As of March 31, 2024, the cumulative amount of such financing reaches 1.4 trillion yen, comprising projects such as:

• Green Loans for the development, construction, and operation of low-voltage solar power generation facilities
• Green Finance for purchasing older buildings, conducting energy-saving renovations, obtaining environmental certifications of a certain standard or higher, and subsequently selling the properties
• Syndicated transition-linked loans supported by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan’s financial assistance program to promote the transition toward carbon neutrality

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:

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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 the SBI Shinsei Bank Group, 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://corp.sbishinseibank.co.jp/en/sustainability/initiative/initiative/main/07/teaserItems2/02/linkList/01/link/prbreport_e_2024.pdf

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