OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Berhad (OCBC Bank) was bestowed the Sustainable Infrastructure Award at the inaugural ESGBusiness Awards 2023 held recently at Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Singapore. The award by ESGBusiness magazine is in recognition of OCBC Bank’s ongoing commitment and dedication to sustainability and environmental stewardship.

Ms Tan Ai Chin, Managing Director, Senior Banker & Head of Investment Banking of OCBC Bank, who received the award on behalf of the Bank, said, “OCBC Bank is honoured to be the first recipient of this award which solidifies our unwavering commitment in further advancing the adoption of ESG best practices amongst our business partners by offering holistic and value accretive financing solutions as well as playing a key role in the sustainability ecosystem. This recognition is not just for us, it is symbolic of our successful partnership and collaboration with our valued clients who have entrusted us to be part of their transition journey. We have also formed strategic collaborations with other industry stakeholders such as Bursa Malaysia to facilitate and expedite the transition across all business value chain for corporates.  This is another testament to our continuous initiatives to lead the way towards a greener and sustainable future, for now and beyond.

As a strong advocate of sustainability, OCBC Bank has been driving innovation and sustainability initiatives particularly in the development of the sustainable finance markets in Malaysia with numerous bespoke and award-winning transactions.

After successfully structuring and lead-arranging the world’s first Islamic multi-currency sustainability-linked financing and the maiden issuance of a sustainability-linked bond in the Malaysian capital markets, the Bank went on to pioneer two landmark transactions which set new industry benchmarks. These were for the Sustainability Sukuk Wakalah for KPJ Healthcare Group and Islamic ESG-linked financing stapled with an ESG-linked derivative solution, for Gamuda Berhad.

Left to right: Ms Tan Ai Chin (Managing Director, Senior Banker & Head of Investment Banking, OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Berhad), Ms Lee Joo Wee (Managing Director, Head of Debt Markets, Investment Banking, OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Berhad) and Mr Simon Hyett (Contributing Editor, ESGBusiness Magazine).

OCBC was also the first foreign bank in Malaysia to collaborate with Bursa Malaysia under the #financing4ESG initiative and have extended the partnership by being one of the early adopters of Bursa Malaysia’s Centralised Sustainability Intelligence (CSI) platform together with its exclusive partner, Westport Holdings Berhad (“Westport”) which is one of the biggest ports in Southeast Asia. The CSI platform facilitates corporates in managing the transition of their entire supply chain ecosystem as part of their larger decarbonisation initiative.