Brazil’s Banco Real took the top prize at the third annual Financial Times/International Finance Corporation Sustainable Banking Awards dinner in London. Each year, the awards recognize banks and other financial institutions for their leadership and innovation in integrating social, environmental and corporate governance considerations into their operations.
Rabobank was the runner-up in the Sustainable Bank of the Year category. ABN Amro won last year, and HSBC received the top honor in 2006.
Banco Real also took home the top award in the Sustainable Emerging Markets Bank category. The judges said of Banco Real’s work on sustainability in Latin America: “It’s in their DNA.”
More banks from around the world are becoming agents for environmental and social development. In the process, they help create a new generation of strategies, products, services, and technologies to address the financial, environmental or social challenges of sustainability.
The FT/IFC Sustainable Banking Awards have grown in popularity since they launched. This year’s nominees were selected from a record 182 entries from 129 institutions in 54 countries. In 2006, 98 entries were received from 48 banks in 28 countries.
The panel of judges consisted of many leading figures of sustainable finance, including World Resources Institute’s Jonathan Lash, with the support of the WRI capital markets team. The judges studied, debated, and ranked submissions from 10 candidates in each category. The final winners were announced at last night’s FT/IFC Sustainable Banking Awards dinner.
YES Bank won the Emerging Markets Sustainable Bank of the Year Award for providing responsible financial services, minimizing their environmental impact, supporting local communities, launching an SRI fund in India and engaging in microfinance.
The Sustainable Deal of the Year Award went to Morgan Stanley and BlueOrchard for their microfinance structured product. The category recognizes the financial institution that in the previous year completed a transaction with outstanding social, environmental and financial impact. The deal’s innovation and potential for replication is also taken into account. The runner-up was Glitnir Bank of Iceland for its support of geothermal power generation.
Two new categories have been added to this year’s awards–Banking at the Bottom of the Pyramid and Sustainable Investor of the Year—which has broadened the awards to include financial institutions not directly involved in banking.
ASA won the Banking at the Bottom of the Pyramid Award for its development and delivery of innovative, viable and replicable financial products and services that engage and empower Bottom the Pyramid (BOP)–the more than 4 billion people who live on less than US$2 a day. Wizzit was runner-up.
The Sustainable Investor of the Year Award highlights a ground-breaking achievement in sustainable investment, recognizing specific investments, or overall investment programs with outstanding triple bottom-line results. E & Co won the award for its financing of a transit system in South Korea, and SAM (Sustainable Asset Management) was the runner-up for it’s participation in a geothermal heating system project in China.
Find a full list of winners click here.
Hiranya Fernando, Senior Associate IIHiranya Fernando is a Senior Associate in the Capital Markets team at the World Resources Institute.
