We thank our panelists and attendees for the overwhelming success of the event. We had 75 participants in all, representing 54 banks.

Key takeaways from the event

We have highlighted below select insights shared by the panelists on the three key themes discussed. For more details, please go through the recording of the session at the top of this page.

Stepping stones

• Identifying key stakeholders and engaging with them to unearth the most material issues is a key stepping stone to formulation of a sustainability strategy
• There is a lot of value in engaging with stakeholders. Not only does the process reveal useful insights, but it also strengthens the relationships with them
• The process of engagement could be formal or informal, but it must include all key stakeholders – shareholders, customers, community partners, regulators, employees, etc.
• Development of roadmaps with well-articulated programs and a data-driven approach to assessment are the key tools for a robust plan
  

Operational integration

• Buy-in and commitment from the top (i.e., CEO and the Board of Directors) is the real key to success
• Creating a core committee at the top with spin-offs of sub-committees facilitates engagement with a wide range of stakeholders and helps secure a broad acceptance of the sustainability goals
• It is critical to articulate a group-wide sustainability policy and integrate its appropriate components into relevant policies at the business group and risk stripe level
• To manage and mitigate risks effectively, it is important to first identify where the pockets of risks are located across the bank, and especially in its loan books
• Once the processes have been established, the next step would be to embed the strategy into the bank’s DNA, and this would need education and training of employees
  

Disclosures

• A good path to disclosures starts with identification of big picture-pillars, followed by articulation of qualitative goals against these pillars and, subsequently, transition to quantitative KPIs
• SASB is a good starting point for public disclosures. It is not as complicated as one may think because banks already disclose a lot of the data asks in their 10-K reports. While SASB’s focus on financial materiality serves the purpose for select stakeholders, others would also like to know data around community impact—for example, how much is invested in philanthropy
• TCFD is a very useful and logical framework that helps us think more intuitively around the overall framework of sustainability implementation
• A good practice would be to perform peer benchmarking of disclosures and discuss the outcomes with the legal and risk teams to formulate a plan to plug the gaps

If you have any queries please write to us at feedback@crisil.com.