The 12 banks that members of the Salvadorean Banking Association (ABANSA) signed last October a Sustainable Finance Protocol, in order to elaborate and implement a sustainable finance strategy in the country’s banking industry.

The signatory banks to the Protocol committed to work on four strategic areas: comprehensive management of resources and value chain, development of specialized products and services pursuant to sustainable development, consideration of environmental and social impacts of their portfolio and development programs for communities the signatory banks have an influence on through their activities.

IDB Invest, the private sector arm of the IDB Group, supports ABANSA and its member banks to foster and implement the strategies agreed in the protocol. This support was formalized in an agreement signed on February 12 between the president of ABANSA and IDB INVEST.

The initiatives to be undertaken will be aimed at supporting the financial institutions to strengthen their sustainability policies, as well as at the analysis and development of products with a positive social and environmental impact.

The group of banks that developed the Protocol include Banco Agrícola, Banco Atlántida, Banco Abank, Banco Azul, Banco de América Central, Citibank N.A. Sucursal El Salvador, Banco Cuscatlán, Banco Davivienda Salvadoreño, Banco G&T Continental, Banco Industrial, Banco Promérica, and Scotiabank El Salvador. This group of banks comprise all the private banks in El Salvador, and represent more than 90 percent of the country’s bank loans.

In this way, ABANSA members recognize that sustainable finance has become a relevant factor for the financial sector, and at the same time, they identify the need to incorporate sustainability policies, processes, practices and standards in the financing of activities, investments and within institutions.

Sources:
–https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6633075632152592384/
–https://idbinvest.org/es/medios-y-prensa/bid-invest-apoya-los-bancos-de-el-salvador-en-el-lanzamiento-del-protocolo-de-finanzas