Malaysian lender Maybank has received an AA rating from MSCI ESG Ratings for the second consecutive year, placing it among the top 36% of the 189 diversified banks rated globally based on the MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI).
Of the banks on the MSCI ACWI, only 4% achieved the highest rating of AAA. The rating assessment ranges from CCC, B, BB, BBB, A, AA to AAA.
Maybank’s rating was based on an assessment of its sustainability policies and practices covering seven broad areas, namely financing environmental impact, consumer financial protection, human capital development, access to finance, privacy and data security, corporate governance and corporate behaviour.
The MSCI ESG Ratings report cites Maybank’s strong consumer protection practices, including having a complaint hotline and loan modification options for customers with financial difficulties. The bank’s customer complaint mechanism ranks among the best in the industry, cementing its customer financial protection ranking ahead of even its global top five peers, the report says.
Additionally, the bank’s loan book exposure to environmentally intensive industries was low relative to its peers with just around 4.9% of its loans being exposed to highly environmental-intensive industries (agriculture, metals & mining and utilities) as of May 2021.
The report also notes the bank’s commitment to deny financing for blacklisted activities not aligned with its values, as well as new coal activities, while transitioning to a renewable energy mix with existing borrowers over the medium to long term. Maybank commits to mobilize 50 billion ringgit (US$11.24 billion) in sustainable financing by 2025.
“Our sustainability commitments are part of our journey to realize our ambition of becoming a regional ESG leader, and we are accelerating all efforts through our M25 Plan to help drive positive change in the markets we operate,” says Dato’ Khairussaleh Ramli, Maybank’s group president and chief executive officer.
The bank has already achieved its FY2022 target of reducing 40% of its Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon emissions against a 2019 baseline, he adds. Maybank aims to achieve a carbon-neutral position for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2030, and net-zero carbon equivalent position by 2050.
