PROMOTING ESG PRACTICES AT STATE - OWNED COMMERCIAL BANKS IN VIETNAM

Abstract

ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) is a set of standards for assessing environmental, social and corporate governance factors, which are important in building a sustainable financial foundation. In the banking industry, implementing ESG is not only a trend but also an essential requirement for sustainable development, helping banks minimize risks and costs in the long term, improve operational efficiency and build reputation. The study presents the practical implementation of ESG. in the operations of state-owned commercial banks holding 50% of shares, including Vietinbank, Vietcombank and BIDV. Initially, banks have closely followed ESG standards according to international standards and legal regulations to build a sustainable development framework and invest resources for ESG practices at banks. These banks have made significant progress in ESG practices, including strengthening green credit policies and being more transparent in disclosing environmental and social information, implementing many preferential credit programs for many customer groups; focusing on community support activities. However, these banks still face challenges in fully integrating ESG factors into their business operations. Based on the analysis of the above situation, the article proposes two groups of solutions to promote ESG practices in commercial banks: (i) Group of solutions for state banks; (ii) Group of solutions for state-owned commercial banks.