Ayala-led Bank of the Philippines Islands (BPI) led by bankero TG Limcaoco received the highest marks among Philippine banks in terms of sustainability and ethical impact from three of the world’s most respected ratings and analytics firms.
“Sustainability has always been a high priority at BPI. We are committed to responsible banking and will continue to champion sustainability towards a better Philippines,” Limcaoco said.
MSCI, S&P Global, and Sustainalytics gave the 170-year old bank the highest scores among peers in the 2021 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Ratings.
MSCI gave the bank a rating of BBB (best possible rating: AAA) while S&P Global gave it a rating of 51 (best possible rating: 100). Following an inverted rating scale, Sustainalytics gave BPI a rating of 27 (best possible rating: 0).
ESG Ratings generally measure a company’s performance in initiatives and risk management practices related to environmental protection, social responsibility, and good governance.
BPI is the first and only Philippine bank to give a time-bound commitment to zero out its coal energy generation portfolio by 2032.
It is also the only Philippine bank to-date that has been able to perform an environmental risk assessment that uses the HazardHunterPH system to identify and score risk exposures of the bank’s employees, branches, and machines (ATMs/CAMs) as well as client business and collateral locations to natural hazards such as earthquakes, flooding, and volcanic eruptions.
As of end-2020, almost half or 47 percent of the BPI’s loan portfolio contributed to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, up from 35 percent as of end-2019.
BPI is the only Philippine Bank that provides free technical consultation as a part of its loan package, aimed at ensuring that the clients’ sustainability projects will be successful and profitable.
