Novikombank, the main bank of Rostec State Corporation, became a partner of the XIX International Banking Forum "Banks of Russia - XXI Century", which started in Kazan on September 21. At the event, top managers of the credit institution spoke about the implementation of their ESG strategy.
The annual banking forum "Banks of Russia-XXI Century" is being held in Kazan from September 21 to 24. The event organized by the Association of Banks of Russia is one of the most significant in the financial sphere. Traditionally, key representatives of the Bank of Russia, top managers of large banks and insurance companies, as well as federal ministries and departments, executive and legislative authorities, speak here. Representatives of Novikombank's management took part in the business events of the forum.
Senior Vice President of Novikombank Anna Lavrentieva, speaking at the round table "ESG-banking: new Horizons", noted the uniqueness of the situation in which the sector found itself.
"Today, banks are the drivers of the sustainable development agenda through their own internal activities for employees and shareholders. At the same time, for clients, in addition to providing products and services, they are their consultants, guides and assistants of ESG transformation," she said.
Novikombank has developed a classifier of sustainable development projects and analyzed its loan portfolio. Now the ESG principles correspond to such projects as the construction of sewage treatment plants, the project for automatic water quality control, the construction of waste recycling complexes in the Moscow region and in Tatarstan, the Safe City project, which includes a system for monitoring and managing environmental risks, the construction of a maternity hospital in Magadan, the improvement of the embankment in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, etc.
As part of the implementation of the ESG strategy, Novikombank implements a "Policy in the field of social orientation of banking products", which is verified by the independent agency NRA. The Agency noted that this is a precedent in the Russian financial market, when a credit institution received an independent assessment of the compliance of its Policy with the principles of sustainable development.
Also, following the Policy, Novikombank, together with its shareholder, Rostec State Corporation, has implemented a motivational program "Development", which allows enterprises to additionally encourage priority categories of employees for a particular enterprise through special bank tariffs. 55 agreements have already been concluded, and their number will increase.
In addition, Novikombank has created and is implementing a large-scale project to improve the financial literacy of employees. It includes remote webinars, informational videos at enterprises and other events. They already cover more than 15 thousand people in 13 regions of Russia.
"The regulatory environment for investing in sustainable development projects is currently being formed. Novikombank has developed a number of proposals aimed at reducing the cost of financing and expanding the opportunities for implementing sustainable development projects," Anna Lavrentieva summed up.
Novikombank's proposals have already been sent to the Expert Council on Sustainable Development and Green Financing at the State Duma.
