Cairo, Egypt – Commercial International Bank (CIB), Egypt’s leading private sector bank, has attended the first in-person meeting that brought together the PRB Banking Board and the Civil Society Advisory Body (CSAB) as a member of the PRB Banking Board, representing the MENA region. The CSAB was established two years ago to facilitate engagement between civil society and the PRB signatories of more than 300 banks representing around half of the global banking industry.
Banking industry leaders and civil society representatives from across the globe came together to discuss the progress made by signatories and their strategic vision for the PRB in the next stage of its implementation. The meeting provided an opportunity for banking leaders to share the practical challenges faced by their industry. Over the course of two days, the PRB Banking Board held discussions to assess the progress of member banks to ensure the relevance of the framework to societal and environmental needs. Furthermore, the PRB Banking Board hosted the CSAB to revise and set expectations for the Principles. The CSAB challenged the Banking Board to encourage signatories to move faster in delivering their contribution to addressing the most urgent global crises – climate change, nature loss, social justice and financial inclusion, while climate action remains a priority.
"Our objective is to evaluate the framework's performance and set the strategic direction for 2030 to ensure its effectiveness and credibility,” said Dr. Dalia Abdel Kader, CIB's Chief Sustainability Officer and Member of the PRB Banking Board representing MENA. “Additionally, our insightful discussions with civil society representatives stressed the need for banks to increase their pace and impact and strengthen effective client engagement,” she added. “Sustainable Finance is a very dynamic field, which is why reporting frameworks should be constantly revised to remain agile and support banks in their transformation towards sustainability,” she concluded.
As a PRB founding signatory, CIB has been disclosing positive and negative impacts resulting from its portfolio on the environment and community in its published impact assessment reports in accordance with the PRB guidelines.