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.

KBank adopts a comprehensive stakeholder identification approach by assessing the financial and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) impacts of its business activities across the entire value chain. This analysis considers the influence of stakeholders on the bank’s operations and vice versa. The identified stakeholders include shareholders, the Board of Directors, employees, regulatory agencies, customers, business partners, competitors, creditors, communities, the environment, and society. Insights gathered from stakeholder engagement, especially their voices, highlight weather conditions as a significant material issue within the environmental dimension.

In support of sustainable development, KBank collaborates with various organizations through several key initiatives:

United Nations Global Compact (UNGC):
KBank is a member of UNGC, aligning its business practices with internationally recognized principles related to human rights, labor, the environment, and anti-corruption.

Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF):
As a signatory to PCAF, KBank contributes to establishing standards for measuring and disclosing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) financed through loans and investments.

Science-Based Targets (SBT) Project:
KBank participates in the SBT project, which aims to reduce GHG emissions in the business sector using science-based targets, initiated by the Center of Excellence for Eco-Efficiency at Thammasat University and the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization (TGO).

Climate Action Leading Organization Initiative:
KBank joins this initiative to demonstrate its leadership in GHG management, in collaboration with TGO and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Thai Bankers’ Association (TBA) Collaboration:
KBank plays a leading role in advancing sustainability within the TBA, including preparing the ESG Declaration, developing impact assessment tools, and creating an industry handbook.

Thailand Taxonomy Working Group:
Representing the TBA, KBank contributes to the Thailand Taxonomy working group of the Bank of Thailand by providing input and recommendations for developing a ‘green taxonomy’ to classify environmentally sustainable economic activities.

These collaborative efforts reflect KBank’s dedication to sustainable practices, stakeholder engagement, and its leadership in tackling environmental challenges.

How did KBank work with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities?

In its 2024 Sustainability Report KBank reports that it works with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities as follows:

In line with its K-Strategy, which focuses on empowering the lives and businesses of its customers, KBank has launched Customer Deep Listening sessions and workshops. These initiatives involve active participation from customers and SME Relationship Managers, enabling a comprehensive understanding of customers’ pain points and needs. The insights gained from these engagements are carefully analysed and used to develop products tailored to address specific customer challenges. This customer-centric approach ensures that KBank’s offerings meet their expectations and enhance their overall experience with KBank.

Additionally, KBank has integrated ESG risks and opportunities into the loan consideration process within its Know Your Customer (KYC) and Customer Due Diligence (CDD) procedures. Post-approval, KBank monitors customers’ loan use in accordance with the objectives communicated to the bank and tracks repayment schedules. KBank also maintains an exclusion list and sector-specific guidelines that incorporate ESG factors relevant to each industry, ensuring compliance with its sustainability targets. KBank’s Relationship Managers engage with customers to align them with the bank’s sustainability direction and support their transition journey. For sectors targeted as part of its decarbonization pathway, KBank actively collaborates with customers in these industries to facilitate their transition through its products and services.

KBank promotes sustainable financing with a target of Baht 100-200 billion by 2030, and has also developed a sustainable finance guideline applicable to various activities and projects that contribute to environmental objectives, such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, eco-friendly and circular economy initiatives, and green buildings. For proceeds with unknown use linked to material sustainability targets (sustainability-linked), KBank considers KPIs related to GHG reductions, resource efficiency, and circular economy principles.

Furthermore, KBank has strengthened customer engagement across multiple segments—including corporate, SME, and retail—with a primary focus on Thailand, its main operating region.

 

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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    • 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.

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 KBank, 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.kasikornbank.com/en/sustainable-development/SDAnnualReports/y2024-sd-en.pdf

Note to KBank: With each case study we send out an email requesting a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us.

What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2021 Sustainability Report KBank identified a range of material issues, such as cyber security and customer data privacy protection, business ethics and transparency, sustainable supply chain management, digitization and innovation. Among these, creating economic value for its stakeholders stands out as a key material issue for KBank.

Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:

“The reporting organization shall identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations and interests.”

Stakeholders must be consulted in the process s of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.

Key stakeholder groups KBank engages with:

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement
Shareholders	·      KBank website ·      Shareholder Newsletter ·      Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) ·      Form 56-1 One Report (Annual Report) ·      Sustainability Report ·      Investor Presentation ·      Facebook – KBankSmiles ·      Visits, online meetings
Board of Directors	·      KBank website ·      Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) ·      Form 56-1 One Report (Annual Report) ·      Sustainability Report ·      Investor Presentation ·      CG Journal ·      Facebook – KBankSmiles ·      Visits, online meetings
Employees	·      KBank website ·      Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) ·      Form 56-1 One Report (Annual Report) ·      Sustainability Report ·      Investor Presentation ·      KASIKORNTV, Office 365, LINE Official – KONNECT+ ·      Facebook – KBankSmiles ·      Visits, online meetings
Customers	·      KBank website ·      Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) ·      Form 56-1 One Report (Annual Report) ·      Sustainability Report ·      Investor Presentation ·      Facebook – KBankSmiles ·      Visits, online meetings
Counterparties/ Business Partners	·      KBank website ·      Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) ·      Form 56-1 One Report (Annual Report) ·      Sustainability Report ·      Investor Presentation ·      Facebook – KBankSmiles ·      Visits, online meetings
Competitors	·      KBank website ·      Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) ·      Form 56-1 One Report (Annual Report) ·      Sustainability Report ·      Investor Presentation ·      Facebook – KBankSmiles
Creditors	·      KBank website ·      Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) ·      Form 56-1 One Report (Annual Report) ·      Sustainability Report ·      Investor Presentation ·      Facebook – KBankSmiles ·      Visits, online meetings
Communities/ Environment	·      KBank website ·      Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) ·      Form 56-1 One Report (Annual Report) ·      Sustainability Report ·      Investor Presentation ·      Facebook – KBankSmiles ·      Visits, online meetings
Regulatory Agencies	·      KBank website ·      Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) ·      Form 56-1 One Report (Annual Report) ·      Sustainability Report ·      Investor Presentation ·      Facebook – KBankSmiles ·      Visits, online meetings

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics KBank engaged with its stakeholders through surveys and questionnaires.

What actions were taken by KBank to create economic value for its stakeholders?

In its 2021 Sustainability Report KBank reports that it took the following actions for creating economic value for its stakeholders:

• Creating economic value for employees
• In 2021, KBank paid 24,331,484 thousand Baht in employee expenses (salaries, wages, overtime pay, bonuses, pension, cost of living subsidies, employee benefits, Bank contribution to provident funds, welfares and other benefits, e.g., health insurance and annual health checkup).

• Creating economic value for providers of capital
• In 2021, KBank paid 22,391,632 thousand Baht in dividends to shareholders and interest expenses.

• Creating economic value for the government
• In 2021, KBank paid 13,504,586 thousand Baht in direct and indirect taxes, e.g., corporate income tax, land and building tax, and special business tax.

• Creating economic value for communities
• In 2021, KBank paid 589,723 thousand Baht in cash donations for supporting community and education.

Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?

The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed

Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed corresponds to:

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• Targets: 8.1, 8.2
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
• Targets: 9.1, 9.4, 9.5

 

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.

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References:

This case study is based on published information by KBank, 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.kasikornbank.com/en/sustainable-development/SDAnnualReports/Y2021_SD_EN.pdf

Note to KBank: With each case study we send out an email requesting a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us.