KB Financial Group Publishes 'Sustainable Management Report' Detailing ESG Strategy and Performance

Chairman Yoon Jong-kyu: "Urgency is Changing the Thoughts and Actions of the Nation, Companies, and Citizens"

[Asia Economy Reporter Sunmi Park] KB Financial Group published the ‘2020 KB Financial Group Sustainability Management Report’ on the 21st, which contains the group’s ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management strategy and key achievements. The sustainability management report focuses on five major areas: customers, employees, local communities, environment, and responsible management, detailing the group’s ESG management activities and outcomes.

In the ‘CEO Briefing’ section, the CEO’s management philosophy and strategic direction regarding ESG finance, organizational diversity, and leading ESG management were mentioned. KB Financial has established a mid-to-long-term goal of ‘achieving a total of 50 trillion KRW in ESG products, investments, and loans by 2030’ and is expanding ESG financial products, investments, and loans. Last year alone, it achieved results amounting to 22.95 trillion KRW in ESG products, investments, and loans.

The ‘ESG Focus’ section provides an overview of KB Financial’s ESG management achievements on recently highlighted issues such as climate change response, customer rights protection, and fostering female talent. It is also notable that the report separately includes sections related to SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board) and TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures), actively reflecting global disclosure standards and the demands of investors and other stakeholders. In particular, for SASB disclosures, KB Financial expanded the scope and level of reporting not only in its core banking industry but also in capital markets and insurance sectors to secure ESG investor trust.

In this report, KB Financial disclosed carbon emissions by industry sectors such as steel and power generation, exposure ratios, and carbon emissions by asset types including corporate loans to analyze climate change risks. Following its carbon neutrality strategy declaration in June, KB Financial became the first domestic financial company to announce the total carbon emissions of its asset portfolio using the methodology of PCAF (Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials).

In the social area, an important pillar of ESG, the report covers KB Financial’s activities to internalize social responsibility management such as diversity, inclusion, and shared growth. KB Financial operates systems and various specialized programs to foster female talent and is committed to strengthening organizational diversity. Notably, as a result of operating various childbirth and childcare support systems to balance work and family life, the rate of male parental leave has approached 10%, indicating that a culture of gender equality is being established within the organization.

Yoon Jong-kyu, Chairman of KB Financial, stated in the report, “The urgency that humanity will perish if we do not coexist is changing the thoughts and actions of nations, companies, and citizens,” and added, “To create customer happiness and a better world, KB will do its best to solve the problems before us as a corporate citizen and financial company.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.