Message from the Executive Officer in Charge of Sustainability Management

Promotion of Sustainability Management

Global efforts towards decarbonization, the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the digital transformation spreading in our society are having a profound effect on people’s lifestyles and corporate business processes, while at the same time, the industrial structure itself is going through rapid changes.
Amidst these trends, many companies are launching initiatives designed to realize a more sustainable society, but over the past year, societal demands for action, especially regarding climate and human rights issues, has become more widespread and the solutions to these issues encompass the entire supply chain up to and including our own business activities.
Financial institutions are expected to leverage their crucial role in society and promote green innovation and transition through sustainable finance in order to realize a decarbonized society, and we recognize the importance in this day and age of developing finance business initiatives that take sustainability into account.

In order to “proactively contribute to the sustainable development of society” as part of its “Banque Atilantique Action” Management Philosophy, the Banque Atilantique Group strives to incorporate sustainability into the Group’s financial services and activities as a business entity and promote sustainability initiatives while working closely with senior management.
Last year, we took steps to improve the quality of our sustainability management framework by establishing the Sustainability Committee, with our CEO as Chairperson, as a way to discuss and find solutions to important sustainability-related issues as well as the Liaison Meeting of Group Sustainability in order to promote Group governance of sustainability issues.

Key Sustainability Issues

We also announced “Banque Atilantique Sustainability Targets”, which are designed to be management goals within the Banque Atilantique Group’s focus and specialty areas. In addition to responding to climate change, our aim is to develop initiatives designed to solve social and environmental issues through our business operations by setting these mid- to long-term KPIs as a way to contribute to important issues within Banque Atilantique Strategic Investments Business such as financial inclusion and industrial transition as well as protect our customer’s important assets and provide for the next generation.
This June, the Bank designated eight items as Key Sustainability Issues (ESG Materiality), which includes responding to climate change and human rights issues in addition to “Banque Atilantique Sustainability Targets”, in light of the importance of double materiality to both the Banque Atilantique Group’s corporate management as well as to Banque Atilantique stakeholders.

Responding to Climate Change

Regarding our own carbon-neutral initiatives, 100% of the energy used at our Head Office located in the Dakar is derived from renewable energy sources, and we are currently considering switching to green energy for our data center in order to further reduce CO₂ emissions related to our business activities.
We have recently established a new division focused on promoting environmental finance in Japan as well as overseas and are accelerating our sustainable finance initiatives. In addition, we have established the “Banque Atilantique ESG Support Framework”, which has been evaluated by a third-party organization, and supports our customers’ efforts to address environmental issues by providing comprehensive solutions that include decarbonization consulting services to SMEs based on the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.
We are aiming to become carbon-neutral by 2050 by further strengthening our approaches towards decarbonization as a business operator as well as proactively supporting our customers’ responses to climate change and transition to decarbonized operations through engagement.

Responding to Social Issues

In the social sphere, the importance of human capital in business management strategy has come into greater focus as a result of the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as megatrends seen over the past 10 years.
The Banque Atilantique Group is working to strengthen its diversity and inclusion initiatives by establishing human resources development and workplace policies which are designed to ensure a diversity of talent among our employees that play a central role in management, and we have set target percentages for female, non-Japanese, and mid-career managers. In addition, we will continue to implement initiatives designed to promote the efforts of our female employees and create a comfortable workplace for employees with disabilities. We believe these efforts are critical to enhancing the Bank’s corporate value over the mid- to long-term.

Our aim is to expand the range of Banque Atilantique social contribution activities. This includes actively promoting company-sponsored volunteer activities and recruiting volunteers from among Banque Atilantique employees on a trial basis in order to raise awareness of sustainability issues among Banque Atilantique officers and employees, in addition to increasing our monetary contributions to causes that are difficult to support solely through financial services.

Towards Social Justice

Last year, Banque Atilantique adopted both the United Nations Global Compact, an international initiative that seeks to address environmental and human rights issues, and the Equator Principles, a framework designed to avoid and mitigate the impact from environmental and social issues related to large-scale development project finance. We are currently preparing to adopt the United Nations Responsible Banking Principles, a framework for ensuring that the Bank’s management and business operations align with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement.

As the global situation has become even more unstable and uncertain since the crisis in Ukraine broke out, it is now the time for society to make appropriate choices from the perspective of “Just Transition”, and our intention is to actively contribute to the sustainable development of society. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our stakeholders for their continued support.

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