COMMITTING TO SUSTAINABILITY Building on our core strength as a pioneer in the Islamic banking and finance industry, we have been on a journey incorporating principles of Shariah, Value-based Intermediation (VBI) and ESG considerations in our products and service offerings. We are committed in the mobilisation of our six strategic objectives of Sustainable Prosperity, Values-based Culture, Community Empowerment, Customer Centricity, Real Economy and Digitalisation to position us in our next phase of growth and transformation. During the year, we took major steps to cement our leadership in the areas of Green Financing and Shariahcompliant ESG Investing, both identified as growth-drivers for our business. BIMB already has one of the highest exposures to Green Financing within the Malaysian banking industry, with Green Financing accounting for approximately 4% of our total financing, which is well above the 1-2% recorded by most Malaysian banks. We are working to further build on this strength under our LEAP25 strategy, to raise this to 10-12% of our current portfolio by 2025, establishing BIMB as a dominant player in Malaysia’s growth in Green Financing. We are also helping our customers to transition to greener lifestyles, by increasing financing to areas not within the conventional definition of Green Financing, ranging from the purchase of electric vehicles to financing for households and small businesses that are switching to solar power. Our approach to sustainability, Green Financing and ESG-compliant f inancing and investing is part of our comprehensive approach to growth, which recognises that embracing ESG is not just the right thing to do, but it is also good for business. ENHANCING CORPORATE GOVERNANCE BIMB is committed to upholding the highest standards of corporate governance, in line with the strong values that we hold as a company. During the year, we implemented several key policies and measures to not only align with regulatory requirements but also to meet the high expectations of our stakeholders. As part of Board’s commitment to effective stewardship, we undertook a comprehensive review of the Board Charter and the Terms of Reference of the Board and the Board Committees to ensure that they are up-to-date and in line with the latest recommendation of the Securities Commission’s Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance (MCCG). We welcome the 2021 update of the MCCG for companies to integrate sustainability considerations into their strategy, which is very much in line with our commitment to strengthen our sustainability governance, our corporate strategy and our determination to play a larger role as a responsible corporate citizen. We carried out a review of the Board succession-planning for the Group to ensure we meet the recommended best practices on the tenure of Independent Directors and the composition of Independent Directors. We also recently signed up as a Corporate Advocate of the Malaysian chapter of the 30% Club, a network of corporations that are working together to increase women’s participation in the boardroom. Our corporate advocacy in the Club will help us to leverage on best practices in implementing new diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, in knowledge sharing and setting diversity targets, while contributing to the larger plan of promoting DEI in the Malaysian Islamic finance industry. PEOPLE AT THE CORE OF OUR TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY Our colleagues, from those in our head office to those at the frontlines of serving our customers and communities, remain our most valuable asset. BIMB’s Live Well programme which was introduced to promote our colleagues’ mental & BANK I SLAM MALAYS IA BERHAD 10 MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN
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