Center-invest Bank took part in the XX International Banking Forum and held a roundtable discussion entitled «ESG Banking: Investing in the Future».

Alexander Dolganov, Ph.D. in Economics, Deputy Chairman of Center-invest Bank’s Management Board, moderated the roundtable discussion, and Lidia Simonova, Chairperson of the Management Board presented the bank’s experience in developing sovereign ESG banking. The panel was attended by 8 speakers and over 200 participants of the banking forum.

The participants discussed the competitive advantages of ESG banking, barriers and prospects for non-financial reporting, ESG risks assessment approaches and data availability.

«Sovereign ESG banking is, first of all, global competitiveness, which requires to localise the best global practices, effective risk management, ability to see new opportunities and courage to introduce new rules in order to remove old barriers,» Lidia Simonova specified.

Center-invest Bank has been operating on the basis of the sustainable banking model for 30 years and is now the leader in implementing ESG banking in Russia: issuing the first Russian green bonds, building a digital ESG banking model, creating the worlds first ESG balance sheet, publishing and disclosing ESG reporting and an ESG rating model for SME customers.

In 2023, based on its experience, the Bank published a book titled Regional Bank in the Sovereign Economy analysing the evolution of sustainable development concept and its effective use in Russia.