CTBC Financial

In terms of senior leadership accountability, the responsibility for sustainability issues within CTBC Financial lies with the sustainability committee of the board. Moreover, the insurance company identified and prioritised its impacts through a materiality assessment process, including external stakeholders’ feedback.

CTBC Financial discloses the aggregate amount and share of finance it devotes to climate solutions while specifying that these solutions pertain to green energy technologies. Moreover, it publishes its absolute financed emissions and the related data quality and coverage.

CTBC Financial discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category. Moreover, the insurance company has a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers to raise human rights complaints. Furthermore, CTBC Financial has publicly available policy statements which show it is committed to respecting the health and safety of workers, prohibiting bribery and corruption, and protecting personal data. It also provides examples of measures describing how it has acted on a salient human rights risk issue. Moreover, CTBC Financial discloses a global tax strategy and income tax payments for all its tax jurisdictions.

CTBC Financial could link the remuneration of its executive and management team to sustainability performance criteria. Moreover, it could disclose a public commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment, the proportion of women in senior leadership positions, and how it addresses any gender pay gaps. In terms of female representation in leadership positions, women are underrepresented on the board of directors where all board members are men. Additionally, CTBC Financial has an opportunity to describe its engagement approach on sustainability themes and impact topics with clients and investees.

CTBC Financial could disclose a target to reach net-zero financed emissions by 2050 and the key sectors it has identified as priorities to engage with on climate change, specifically on the alignment with the Paris Agreement. Moreover, it could align its climate solutions with internationally recognised frameworks while providing evidence of related time-bound targets. Regarding nature and biodiversity, no evidence was found that the financial institution is committed to minimising its negative impacts or financing regenerative solutions. In addition, CTBC Financial could describe its approach to fossil fuels that spans across the fossil fuel value chain, such as the amount or share of finance it directs towards fuels or its stance on financing companies with new fossil fuel projects.

CTBC Financial has a publicly available statement regarding respecting human rights. However, it has an opportunity to strengthen its commitment by adopting a more explicit and stronger language. The insurance company could describe a comprehensive process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts across all its activities. CTBC Financial discloses the age of its full-time employees in management and non-management positions, and commission-based sales representatives, but has an opportunity to disclose this information for all employee categories including at the subsidiary level. To provide transparency on financial inclusivity, CTBC Financial could publish the amount of finance directed towards women-owned businesses, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or low-income developing countries.