Over the past seven decades of our journey, Krungsri, as a Domestic Systemically Important Bank (D-SIB), has remained steadfast in our vital role as a financial intermediary in mobilizing and allocating financial resources to support the country’s industrial sector, in alignment with our mission to be ‘a leading regional financial institution with global reach, committed to responsibly meeting the needs of our customers and serving society through sustainable growth’. Our corporate sustainability mission also resonates with MUFG’s vision to be ‘the world’s most trusted financial group’, and reflects the Bank’s motives that often go beyond financial and economic returns to include human capital development and social returns.

Amid 2019’s economic headwinds at home and abroad, together with the rapid, unprecedented pace of digital innovation and changes in technology as well as customer behaviors and expectations, Krungsri continued to adhere to the strategic focus under our Medium-Term Business Plan (2018-2020), in delivering a superb customer experience through digital innovation. Our raison d’etre includes not only economic and financial sustainability, but also environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impacts that align with sustainable banking principles while meeting our stakeholders’ expectations.

In August 2019, together with 14 other Thai commercial banks, Krungsri signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) governing the conduct of sustainable banking. Reflecting Krungsri’s virtue-based approaches to responsible conduct, the sustainable banking concept embraces a responsible lending framework through formalizing commitment and viable plans to incorporate sustainability or environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations into our business strategies and culture as well as our credit underwriting decisions.

On the social front, supported by product and service innovations, greater financial inclusion has always been among our key mandates. In 2019, we became the first private-sector entity in the Asia Pacific region to issue 6.64 billion baht in gender bonds. Gender bond issuance as a financing instrument will not only expand Krungsri’s opportunities to provide for the underserved women SME segment, but also positively contribute to job creation and the country’s overall economic development.

Krungsri’s financial inclusion mandates, through our financial intermediary role, aim to promote the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely Gender Equality; Decent Work and Economic Growth; Reduced Inequalities; and Partnerships for the Goals.

2019 marked the fifth anniversary of Krungsri’s flagship financial literacy programs for youths. Krungsri volunteers hold strong to our conviction that basic financial knowledge and discipline among youths will help build a vital immune system against potential problems emerging from personal and household indebtedness – a critical foundation of sound and sustainable economic growth. Over the past five years, ‘Krungsri Financial Literacy for Youths’ has benefited 411 elementary schools in Thailand including nine schools in Lao PDR, covering more than 21,000 students.

On the environmental front, in early 2019, Krungsri announced the ‘Environmental Disclosure Statement’, a high-level directive that governs environmental initiatives aligning with global climate action goals. Specifically, Krungsri will finance or help clients mobilize funds in support of green, eco-friendly, or climate-related projects.

To commemorate our 75th anniversary of operations in Thai society as a responsible service provider in 2020, Krungsri has set a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from all of our business operations, including product and service offerings, by 7.5 million kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent (kgCO2e) in response to the country’s National Strategy on economic development toward a low-carbon society, as well as the UN SDG on Climate Action.

Being committed to the sustainable banking guidelines and complementary to our responsibilities as a D-SIB, Krungsri will not only serve as a leading example for industry peers in the provision of responsible, innovative, and inclusive products and services that are socially and environmentally responsive, but we will also continue to help unlock resources to sustainably advance Thailand’s socio-economic development. And of equal importance, we will be a catalyst for enhancing ESG excellence throughout the organization’s ecosystem, comprising our customers, business partners, suppliers, peer banks, and all of Thai society in support of the UN SDGs.