Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI)

In terms of senior leadership accountability, the responsibility for sustainability issues BRI lies with the environmental, social and governance (ESG) committee of the board. As a signatory of Women’s Empowerment Principles, BRI publicly commits to gender equality and women’s empowerment. Further, it acknowledges that its financing activities have both positive and negative impacts and has identified ten sustainability issues and prioritised eight as material using a materiality assessment and questionnaire. Moreover, BRI discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member including sustainability- and non-sustainability-related organisations.

BRI discloses the aggregate amount devoted to the green sector, specifying what the latter entails. Additionally, the bank discloses monitoring requirements for its palm oil clients as well as the monetary amount of loans provided to the sustainable management of living natural resources and land use, and sustainable water and wastewater management.

BRI discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by age group and gender. In relation to financial inclusion, the bank publishes the amount of finance it directs towards underprivileged women in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) sector, and towards micro-loans and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) loans. Moreover, BRI has a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers, external individuals, and communities to raise human rights and bribery and corruption complaints. Further, the bank discloses that 68.27% of its total direct operations workforce is covered by collective bargaining agreements. In addition, BRI specifies that it does not make political contributions.

In terms of senior leadership, there is no evidence that BRI links the remuneration of its executive or management teams to sustainability performance criteria, and women are underrepresented on the board of directors where only two out of twelve board members are women. The bank can improve its performance on gender quality by reaching at least 40% of women representation in its top management personnel and by disclosing how it addresses any gender pay gaps. Although BRI has an ESG monitoring in its lending portfolio and discloses related escalation points, it could provide evidence for all its financing activities as well as publish how the ESG monitoring is applied in practice.

While BRI supports the Paris agreement, it could disclose a target to reach net-zero financed emissions by 2050. Although the bank discloses that it engages with its clients on ESG topics, no evidence was found that it has a rationale for engaging with specific companies or sectors on the topic of climate change, specifically on the alignment with the Paris Agreement. Furthermore, BRI can improve its performance on climate solutions by disclosing that the finance devoted to its green sector is in line with internationally adopted frameworks and by setting related time-bound targets. Moreover, BRI recognises that financing activities might impact biodiversity and life underwater but does not disclose a clear commitment to minimise its negative impacts on biodiversity.

While BRI has a publicly available statement regarding human rights and respect for the health and safety of its workers in its annual report, the bank could provide related publicly available policy statements. Furthermore, it has an opportunity to describe a comprehensive process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts across all its activities, especially its financing activities. To enhance its performance on financial inclusivity, BRI has an opportunity to disclose the amount of finance directed towards low-income developing countries.