Financial System, Key To Leverage Sustainable Recovery: Carlos Hank González

-- Carlos Hank González, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Grupo Financiero Banorte, participated in the international panel "Principles for Responsible Banking: One year on," in the framework of the first anniversary of the UN Principles for Responsible Banking.

-- He said Banorte was a pioneer in the Mexican financial sector developing an environmental and social risk system.

-- Banorte is now working on promoting its adoption in the financial sector in Mexico and Latin America, hand in hand with other key actors.

-- Carlos Hank González shared his vision on post-COVID-19 world recovery.

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Banorte

Sep 22, 2020, 05:00 ET

MEXICO CITY, Sept. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- A year after launching the UN Principles for Responsible Banking (PBR) and within the framework of the European Sustainable Investment Forum, Carlos Hank González, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Grupo Financiero Banorte, said that after the pandemic, world economic recovery should be based on sustainable development.

During his participation in the "Principles for Responsible Banking: One year on" panel, Hank González analyzed the economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic and explained that the financial sector will be key in the recovery process, as long as it takes into account environmental, social, and governance (ESG) dimensions.

"Banks have to be part of that recovery, but we are going to have to transform ourselves and stop doing business as usual. We should consider working with all our stakeholders and understanding that the context has changed. For a true recovery to take place, it must be sustainable," he added.

Banorte, pioneer in the implementation of the Principles in Mexico

Banorte is the only Mexican founding member of the Principles for Responsible Banking, launched at the UN headquarters in NY City, on September 22^nd 2019.

Furthermore, it was also pioneer in Mexico in the implementation of an environmental and social risk management system, which allows for risk assessment and potential financing impact analysis on the environment and communities.

In his speech, Hank González also explained that Banorte is now extending its system throughout all of the group's business areas and is working hand in hand with regulatory authorities and financial system peers, to promote its implementation in the industry.

"We are excited because we are encouraging the entire Mexican financial industry, including regulators, to adopt an environmental and social risk system," he said.

The Principles

The Principles for Responsible Banking are a world framework allowing banks to align their strategies, operations, products, and services to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Banorte is the only Mexican bank in the founding group of 28 institutions that developed this framework, that now has 180 signatory banks from different parts of the world.

In 2019, Carlos Hank González was invited to represent Latin American banks in the launching ceremony of the Principles.

According to Carlos Hank González, "Sustainability is not a fad. In Banorte it is part of our DNA and it is essential to our strategy and operations to increase the generation of value to our stakeholders."

SOURCE Banorte