BisB wins second place in Bahrain’s banking sector

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain Islamic (BisB) has recently been ranked second in the Kingdom’s banking sector in the Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) ranking list by ESG Invest - Sustainability Excellence, with a commendable Percentile Ranking of 84. ESG Invest, evaluates and scores the ESG performance of more than 700 companies across the Middle East spanning nine regional markets. The Bank achieved its score based on its performance on key ESG issues, namely the Integration of environmental and social factors in lending activities, responsible relationships with customers, data privacy & security, employee training &development, as well as the prevention of money laundering.

Each of these key criteria were scored based on qualitive Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and quantitative research carried out by the ESG Invest team. While the Bank received high scores across multiple criteria, one of the highest scores the Bank received was in the Data Privacy and Security KPI, where BisB achieved the highest possible score.

The Bank was recognised for introducing its end-to-end digital service, which allows both individual establishments and Sijili customers to open a corporate account using stateof-the-art facial recognition technology, via the Bank’s corporate mobile application, BisB Corporate Digital. Promotion of the Social and Economic Development was another top-scoring criterion, where the Bank was recognized for its continual aim to support the local economy.

The Bank was also commended for deploying significant measures to address social and economic development and achieved additional scores through the Bank’s highly proactive Commercial Banking division that is responsible for the financing of SME. BisB also achieved top marks in its ESG ratings for its ongoing commitment to adhering to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and its active measures deployed to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing.

In addition, the Bank was recognized for conducting comprehensive training programs for its employees on anti-money laundering and achieved high scores in its ESG Employee Training and Development section.

Commenting on the recognition, the Chief Executive Officer of BisB, Hassan Jarrar, revealed, “This milestone achievement is a testament to our successful formulation of a sustainability roadmap and comes in line with our aim to effectively position BisB as a vital purpose and impact-driven player by 2023, all while benefitting from recognized ESG leadership and strengthening the Bank’s dominant market position as the lender of choice in high sustainability impact sectors.”