SeABank - A pioneer bank in governance innovation for sustainable development

Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SeABank, HOSE: SSB) has just been honored with the title of "Pioneering Bank in Innovation in Governance for Sustainable Development" at the first Vietnam ESG Awards ceremony.

Make your mark and assert your position

Vietnam ESG Awards is one of the few ESG-specific awards in Vietnam initiated by Dan Tri Newspaper with the participation of the Award Evaluation Council, which are leading economic , social and sustainable development experts in Vietnam. The award aims to honor units that excel in implementing ESG criteria and have outstanding commitments and achievements in sustainable development.

In the first year of the award announcement, SeABank was one of 6 units with outstanding management activities, awarded the title of "Pioneering Bank in Management Innovation for Sustainable Development".

“In the ESG implementation strategy at SeABank, governance is an important core that guides comprehensive sustainable development. The Bank always strives to improve its sustainable governance structure and model, and enhance governance capacity to meet Vietnamese regulations and international standards. The award is an affirmation of positive practical results, and at the same time a motivation for SeABank to persevere with its long-term vision towards a sustainable financial ecosystem and prosperity for the future,” said Ms. Le Thu Thuy - Vice Chairwoman of SeABank's Board of Directors.

SeABank also won many awards for effectively implementing ESG criteria, typically: "Best Places To Work in Vietnam - Best Places To Work 2024"; "Women's Empowerment Principles 2024 (UN WEPs Award 2024); "Outstanding Bank for the Community"; "Sustainable Development Enterprise" by VCCI...

ESG implementation - the focus of sustainable development strategy

Over the years, SeABank has always focused on improving its structure, model and improving the effectiveness of corporate governance. In order to improve transparency and shareholder/investor rights, SeABank has fully and promptly disclosed information on multiple channels and in multiple languages ​​as prescribed. The Bank has also implemented international reporting frameworks such as the IFC Corporate Governance Code, G20/OECD, ASEAN Governance Scorecard; GRI reference framework on sustainable development... in addition to Vietnamese laws and standards such as VNCG50.

Risk management is also an important factor in SeABank's ESG implementation strategy. In order to ensure asset quality, stable liquidity and solid buffers, SeABank continuously improves comprehensive risk assessment methods according to international standards, flexibly adjusting policies according to the situation. The Bank has completed all 3 pillars of Basel II ahead of schedule and pioneered the implementation and application of Basel III. The CAR ratio has always been maintained higher than the minimum requirement of the State Bank of Vietnam, with the consolidated CAR ratio reaching 12.84% as of December 31, 2024.

SeABank also applies international standards such as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), COSO internal audit framework; 3 lines of defense model... to ensure safe and sustainable operations. Thanks to that, for many consecutive years, SeABank has been maintained by Moody's with a Ba3 Long-Term Deposit Rating, B1 Baseline Credit Rating (BCA), and stable development prospects.

In addition, SeABank has also proactively deployed an environmental and social risk management system (ESMS) for credit granting activities from 2022 and in 2024 has added: requirements on supply chain risk management, assessment of physical risks related to climate change, and expanded the scope of application of risk assessment according to IFC's Performance Standards.

Environmental and social criteria are also given special attention by SeABank and strongly implemented with a series of policies to minimize the impact of business operations.

SeABank also increased the recognition of the bank brand "For the community" through the volunteer activities of 4 charity funds and actively participated in social security - environmental activities in many fields such as health,education , humanitarian charity, environmental protection... SeABank's contributions were recognized by the Party, State, Government and community with many noble titles, the most typical of which is the First Class Labor Medal.

Source: https://vov.vn/doanh-nghiep/seabank-ngan-hang-tien-phong-trong-doi-moi-quan-tri-vi-su-phat-trien-ben-vung-post1197995.vov