THE Bank of Ghana (BoG) has given its blessing to the launch of the Integrated Environment, Social, and Governance (IESG) programme in Ghana.
The regulator said its expectation was that the new partnership will help to firmly entrench good practices in sustainable banking in the Ghanaian banking landscape over the next few years.
Second Deputy Governor at the BoG, Mrs Elsie Addo Awadzi said , “we see the launch of the IESG partnership as a major milestone for promoting the resilience of the banking sector and the economy as a whole.”
She noted that sustainable banking can be a crucial tool for addressing the structural vulnerabilities of our economy, and can create long-term value for all economic actors, by promoting a more sustainable and equitable future. We also continue to count on the strong cooperation with the EPA and GAB to make the Sustainable Banking Principles an even bigger success.
The IESG programme is a four-year programme of the International Finance Corporation ( IFC) with funding support from the Secretariat for Economic Affairs, Switzerland (SECO) SECO.
It seeks to promote an enabling environment for sustainable banking and to build capacity for improved ESG practices for financial intermediaries (FIs) and corporate clients to help promote stronger and more sustainable local businesses, boosting investments in key sectors of the economy, and leading to a more diversified and resilient economy.
Mrs Awadzi noted that through its collaboration with BoG, IFC will continue to support the implementation of the Ghana Sustainable Banking Principles, build the capacity of local training partners on ESG-related matters, and support BoG’s ESG-related regulatory developments for banks and other regulated entities.
The IFC and SECO have been long-standing strategic and important partners to BoG in the development of key interventions for the banking sector. Our cooperation over the years has yielded many benefits in terms of capacity building and the development of market infrastructure to promote the development of Ghana’s financial sector.
