Bangkok Bank

In terms of its approach towards impact management, Bangkok Bank acknowledges that its financing activities have both positive and negative impacts. It has also identified and prioritised its impacts through a materiality assessment process which included feedback from external stakeholders.

Bangkok Bank discloses the aggregate amount and share of finance it devotes to climate solutions while specifying what these solutions are.

Bangkok Bank has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights and the ILO core labour rights. It also describes a global system to take action to prevent, mitigate or remediate salient human rights issues, which includes a description of how its global system applies to its financing activities. The financial institution prohibits bribery and corruption and commits to protecting personal data and respecting the health and safety of workers, in public policy documents. It also takes steps to identify and address bribery and corruption. On workforce diversity, Bangkok Bank discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by gender and age group. Moreover, the financial institution discloses the amount of finance it directs towards small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

In terms of its approach to senior leadership accountability, while the board of directors supports the implementation of sustainability, it is unclear that the end responsibility for sustainability issues lies with this body. Moreover, there is no evidence that the financial institution links the remuneration of its executive or management teams to sustainability performance criteria. While, 34.4% of top managers are women, the financial institution has an opportunity to reach at least 40% female representation in senior leadership positions. It should also aim to achieve a gender balanced board of directors. Currently women are underrepresented as only 5.6% of board members are women. Regarding engagement, Bangkok Bank has an opportunity to describe its engagement approach on sustainability themes and impact topics with clients and investees.

There is no evidence that Bangkok Bank discloses a target to reach net-zero financed emissions by 2050 or that it is committed to minimising its negative impacts on nature and biodiversity. In terms of engagement on the topic of climate change, the financial institution has an opportunity to disclose the key sectors and companies it has identified as priorities to engage with, specifically on alignment with the Paris Agreement. No evidence of an approach to fossil fuels, which covers the entire fossil fuel value chain and all of Bangkok Bank’s financing activities, was found in the public domain. This could include the amount or share of finance directed towards fossil fuels, or the financial institutions stance on financing companies with new fossil fuel projects.

Bangkok Bank describes a process for identifying its human rights risks, but it is unclear if this covers all its financing activities. Moreover, while the financial institution provides a grievance mechanism accessible to both workers and external stakeholders to raise human rights, and bribery and corruption, concerns or complaints, it should specify that the complainant has the choice to identify themselves or remain anonymous. To provide transparency on financial inclusivity, Bangkok Bank has an opportunity to disclose the amount of finance directed towards usually excluded groups or low-income developing countries.