The Co-operative Bank of Kenya has been declared this year’s overall winner of the Sustainable Finance Catalyst Awards for banks and other financial sector players hosted by the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA), the umbrella body of the banking industry.
An independent judging panel also settled on KCB Group for the second overall place and Equity Bank for the third position overall. Away from the banking sector, telecommunications company Safaricom was named the Best Overall in the implementation of Sustainability through Policy and Governance. Diamond Trust Bank was declared winner in the Financing of SME’s Case Study Category; while Standard Chartered Bank came third in Commercial Lending. Equity Bank was also recognised as ‘Most Improved’ between 2016 and 2017. In the Tier 2 class, Kenya Women Microfinance Bank (KWFT) was declared winner in the Best Practice in Sustainable Finance Category.
The awards themed: “Recognising Catalytic Finance that Impacts Industry, Economy and Society”, were launched in 2016, and this year, they sought to honour institutions that have embedded the industry’s Sustainable Finance Guiding Principles in their core operations and lending practices. The Principles, designed to articulate the industry’s aspirations of creating long-term value for the economy, the environment and society at large, aim to highlight the sector’s leadership and innovation while reinforcing the role banks, mobile money providers, fintechs and other financial sector participants play towards sustainable development.
The award finalists included NIC Bank, Prime Bank, National Bank of Kenya, Commercial Bank of Africa, Stanbic Bank, Barclays, and Lendable which is a Fintech start-up based in Nairobi and New York.
“Through the integration of sustainability issues directly into our core business, we can fundamentally contribute to job creation and social inclusion, thus helping society to address challenges such as economic inequity,” said KBA chief executive Dr. Habil Olaka. “The winners of the Catalyst Awards demonstrate that we are prepared to take steps to ensure that our investment activities are carried out in line with international best-practices in so far as mitigating climate change through the allocation of capital, and with due regard to the Kenyan context,” he added.
In the course of the four-months exercise, 33 entries were submitted by 14 financial institutions. The judging panel for the Sustainable Finance Catalyst Awards constituted Ms. Anne Macharia from the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA); Eng. Dan Ndenga, co-founder of Miltec Engineering Limited, a firm that offers energy advisory; Mr. Edward Mungai, Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Climate Innovation Center (KCIC); Dr. Peter Muriu, a lecturer in Financial and Monetary Economics at the School of Economics, University of Nairobi; Ms. Rosemary Mutunkei, a leading Corporate Sustainability and Corporate Social Investment practitioner; and Mr. Tumurkhuu Davaakhuu, the Vice President of the Mongolian Bankers Association (MBA) and CEO of Arig Bank.
