The number of government-invested financial institutions that have adopted the “Equator Principles” rose to nine on Friday with the addition of Taiwan Business Bank (臺灣中小企業銀行), the Ministry of Finance said.
The principles were introduced in the US in 2003 to assess the risks associated with large project financing, National Treasury Administration Deputy Director-General Yen Chun-lan (顏春蘭) said.
They serve as a common baseline and risk management framework for financial institutions to identify, assess and manage environmental and social risks when assessing loan applications for large infrastructure and industrial projects, as such ventures could adversely affect people and the environment, the association said.
Photo: Chen Mei-ying, Taipei Times
Each member of the association is known as an Equator Principles Financial Institution, and must follow 10 guidelines to assess social and environmental risks, it said.
These include each institution’s environmental and social management system and the Equator Principles action plan, which includes stakeholder engagement, a grievance mechanism, independent review, independent monitoring and reporting, and reporting and transparency to provide a minimum standard for due diligence.
The nation’s first government-invested financial institution to join the association was First Commercial Bank (第一商業銀行), which became a member in December 2020. It was followed by Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐國際商業銀行) and Taiwan Cooperative Financial Holding Co (合作金庫金控), which joined in August last year and March respectively, the ministry said.
The other members, which all joined this year, are the Export-Import Bank of the ROC (中國輸出入銀行), Changhwa Commercial Bank (彰化商業銀行), Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), Land Bank of Taiwan (臺灣土地銀行) and Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南商業銀行), the ministry said.
The firms also observe environmental, social and corporate governance criteria, along with corporate social responsibility policies, Yen said, adding that they have established their own committees to facilitate corporate sustainability.
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