Korea Eximbank adopts IFC's impact management principles

Korea Eximbank CEO Bang Moon-kyu, left, holds the state-run bank's pledges to adopt the International Finance Corporation (IFC)'s impact investing principles with IFC First Senior Vice President Stephanie von Friedeburg, in Glasgow, Scotland, Tuesday. Courtesy of Korea Eximbank

By Anna J. Park

The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) became the first Korean signatory to the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) Operating Principles for Impact Management, as the state-run bank aims to improve its management of bonds and related assets that address environment, social and governance (ESG) criteria.

A sister organization of the World Bank and a member of the World Bank Group, the IFC is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on encouraging the economic growth of private enterprises in developing countries.

Korea Eximbank CEO Bang Moon-kyu met with IFC First Senior Vice President Stephanie von Friedeburg in Glasgow, Scotland, Tuesday (local time), on the sidelines of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), and delivered the state-run bank's pledge to adopt the IFC's principles.

“Through the adoption of the IFC's Operating Principles for Impact Management, Korea Eximbank expects to accelerate ESG-focused management as well as to contribute to achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals,” Bang said at a signing ceremony.

The IFC principles, launched in April 2019, make up the international organization's framework to provide regulations, transparency and trust in the global impact investment market. The principles stipulate specific ways to assess the impact management of financial institutions. The principles draw on the best practices of a range of asset managers, owners and allocators, and development finance institutions.

Once becoming a signatory to the principles, the IFC publicly discloses member organizations' compliance with the impact management systems on an annual basis, gauging their influence on sustainability.

So far, more than 100 financial institutions ― comprising international organizations and major private financial groups ― have adopted the IFC's principles for impact management, including, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, BlackRock and UBS.

Korea Eximbank set out its ESG-focused management roadmap in July, the first state-run bank in Korea to establish such a vision. After drawing up the long-term roadmap, the bank created an ESG committee within its board. The bank also issued $2 billion worth of global green bonds to support eco-friendly businesses involved with alternative energy and working to stop climate change.