Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Green Banking & Its Practice in Bangladesh.
Green Banking & Its Practice in Bangladesh.
Submitted To
Md. Mohammad Faykuzzaman Mia
Assistant Professor,
Department of AIS
Faculty of Business Studies
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science & Technology
University
Submitted By
Debobrota Bala
ID NO. 16AIS067
Year: 4th Semester: 1st
Department of AIS
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science & Technology
University
1
Date: July 09, 2021
To
I would like to express my gratitude for your kind guidance in completion of the report assigned
to me. I sincerely hope that this report will meet your expectation and will serve its purposes.
Yours sincerely
_______________
Debobrota Bala
B.B.A (4nd year)
ID: 16AIS067
Session: 2016-2017
Department of Accounting & Information Systems.
2
This is to certify that Debobrota Bala, ID No: 16AIS067, B.B.A. 4nd year, Department of
Accounting & Information Systems, Faculty of Business Administration, University of
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science & Technology University, Gopalganj was being
satisfied in his term paper period duly with me.
3
To my parents thank you for your love, encouragement, and support, and for demonstrating the
value of education, hard work, and persistence.
4
Preparation of term paper report is one of the important assignments of 4th year BBA (Hons.).
Mainly our study is limited in theories. This term paper program has been designed for the
students of 4th year to acquire some practical and special knowledge.
Because it is an important thing that students have some piratical knowledge about the current
business world. In developed countries business schools give more preference to practical
knowledge. Keeping this view in mind our curriculum includes “preparation of term paper” in
which I had to make this report. My report actually concern about environmentally friendly
banking (Green banking).
During my preparation of report I tried to acquire the information related to concept and current
practices of Green Banking in Bangladesh. The paper also includes experts‟ view, evolution,
policy guidelines, roles, different products and services as well as related problems of green
banking. This paper may work as guidance for different public and private commercial banks for
adopting green banking practices in their day to day activities.
5
It was very kind desire of the Almighty that I have completed the assigned task within the
specified time period. For the fear of soundings like a vote of thanks speech, I could not
possibly thank all of those marvelous people who have contributed something of themselves
directly in preparing this report. First of all, my hearty thanks go to Md. Mohammad
Faykuzzaman Mia, Assistant Professor, Department of Accounting & Information
Systems, University of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science & Technology
University, for his perseverance and direct supervision. Without his guidelines and valuable
advices and suggestions from time to time, I would be failed to complete the whole thing in a
right manner.
I like to express my tributes and gratitude to all of my friends who directly or indirectly give
their in this regard. I am also thankful to our classmates, employees of department and seminar
librarian who helped me in various ways, without their cooperation my report can‟t be prepared
in time.
6
Environmental protection and awareness, and sustainable, ecological measures have emerged as
significant themes of our age and an increasing number of “green” technologies are also finding
their way into the banking branch.
An increasing number of financial institutes are deliberately turning to the sustainability theme
and, as studies demonstrate, not without good reason. This is because environmentally
responsible behavior on the part of banks is acknowledged by customers and thus strengthens
their loyalty. Sustainability along the entire value added chain already commences during
sourcing, which takes place in line with ecological principles. Further, environmental impact
might affect the quality of assets and also rate of return of banks in the long-run. Thus the banks
should go green and play a pro-active role to take environmental and ecological aspects as part of
their lending principle, which would force industries to go for mandated investment for
environmental management, use of appropriate technologies and management systems.
This paper explores the importance of Green Banking, sites international experiences and
highlights important lessons for sustainable banking and development in Bangladesh small scale
industries too.
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SL. NO. PARTICULARS PAGE NO.
Abstracts
Keywords
Chapter 1: Introduction
In Bangladesh
8
3.1 Draft guideline of Green banking in Bangladesh 24-25
Chapter 4: Recomendation,
4.1 Recomendation 39
4.2 Findings 40
4.3 Conclusion 41
Referrences 42
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Chapter 1
Introduction
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1.1 Background of the Study
The term Green Banking is now popular worldwide now-a-days. It is for stopping the
environmental degradation and making this planet habitable. The concept of Green Banking was
developed in the western countries. Green banking is a general term, which can cover a
multitude of areas from a bank being environmentally friendly to how and also where their
money is invested.
Green banking involves pursuing of financial and business policies that are not hazardous to
environment rather help conserve environment. The broad objective of green banking is to use
resources with responsibility and giving priority to environment and society. It is more about
focusing on 'mother planet and its sustainability', shifting from a traditional approach on 'profit'
or even 'people'. Green banking is not just another corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity;
it is all about going beyond to keep this world livable without much damage.
Green banking, which considers all the social and environmental factors, is also called 'ethical
banking'. Ethical banks started with the aim of protecting the environment. These banks are like
normal banks that aim to protect the environment and are controlled by the same authorities.
Green banking, compared to normal banking, attaches more importance to environmental factors.
Its aim is to provide good environmental and social business practices. It checks all the factors
before considering a loan - whether the project is environment-friendly and has any implication
on the future of people and planet. On would be awarded a loan only when all environmental
safety standards are followed.
Basically, green banking avoids as much as paper work as possible - from go-green credit cards
and go-green mortgages to all transactions done online. It creates awareness around business
people about environmental and social responsibility, enabling them to adopt environment
friendly business practices, and follows environmental standards for lending. When a person is
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awarded a loan, the interest is less than normal banks because ethical banks give more
importance to environment-friendly factors - they do not operate with high interest rates only.
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1.2 Objectives of the Study
The main objective of this study is to know and have a clear idea about the concept of green
banking. Along of this objective some other special objectives may be exposed as under:
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1.3 Importance of the Study
Environmental protection and awareness, and sustainable, ecological measures have emerged as
significant themes of our age and an increasing number of “green” technologies are also finding
their way into the banking branch. Until recently, environmental concerns were not considered
relevant to the business operation of banks and financial institutions. Traditionally, banking
sector‟s concern for environmentally degrading activities of clients is like interfering or
meddling in their business affairs. However, now it is being perceived that dealing with
environment brings risks to their business. Due to strict environmental disciplines imposed by
the competent authorities across the countries, the industries would have to follow certain
standards to run their business. In the case of failure, it would lead to closure of the industry‟s
leading to a likelihood of default to the bank. The importance of Green Banking is immense for
both the banks and economy by avoiding the following risks involved in banking sector. The
adoption of green banking strategies will help the bank to deal with these risks involved in their
business operation.
To manage environmental risk, the banks have to design proper environmental management
systems to evaluate the risks involved in the investment projects. The risks can be internalized by
introducing differential interest rates and other techniques. Moreover, bank can withdraw
itself from financing high-risk projects. The second component of green banking entails creating
financial products and services that support commercial development with environmental
benefits. This includes investment in renewable energy projects, biodiversity conservation,
energy efficiency, investment in cleaner production. Thus, the banking and financial institutions
should prepare an environmental risk and liability guidelines on development of protective
policies and reporting for each project they Finance or invest. They can also have an
environmental assessment requirement for the projects seeking finance. Environmental concerns
are integrated into the international trade policy and often act as trade barrier for environmentally
sensitive goods (ESGs). So adopting environmentally sustainable Technologies or modes of
production is no more considered as a financial burden, rather it brings new business
opportunities and higher profit.
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1.4 Scope of the Study
In fact perception and exception of the customers have undergone a vast change with the
availability of retail banking services at their door steps with the help of technology and expects
to complete all their banking transactions from a single place.
The study identifies the product and service usage in terms of customer‟s convenience pattern.
The reason for choosing this topic is to analyze customer behavior towards usage of different
green banking services provided by the privet sectors banks and to suggest strategies for using
this services in order to make it more competitive and customer friendly. The study will help
privet sector banks to reorient their marketing strategies for better reach among customer in order
to complete with its rivalry with technology as its core competence.
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1.5 Methodology of the Study
The objectivity of any study depends largely on how methodologically it is done. For the purpose
of this report I have used both qualitative and quantitative information to give it a clear judgment
opportunity.
All the information used in this report are from two major sources. These are:
Primary Sources:
-to-face interview with the concerned employees of the bank.
the bank.
Secondary Sources:
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1.6 Limitations of the Study
During the completion of this term paper, numerous problems have been encountered for the
accomplishment of the study. These problems may be termed as limitation of the study,
enumerated as follows:
1. Time frame for the research was very limited. The actual survey was done within a short
period.
2. Unavailability of written documents as require for making a comprehensive study.
3. Some supportive materials were not available during the completion of my term paper i.e.
PC, Internet facility, Essential Books, Lack of Experience etc.
4. Last but not the least, in many cases, up to date information is not published.
It seems to me that during completion of this report necessary and up to date information was not
possible to gathered, I think if it was possible then a fully-fledged and comprehensive report
could have been made possible.
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Chapter 2
Green Banking
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2.1 Definition of Green Banking:
The word Green banking is like a normal bank, which considers all the social and environmental
or ecological factors with an aim to protect the environment and conserve natural resources. It is
also called as an ethical bank or a sustainable bank. They are controlled by the same authorities
but with an additional agenda toward taking care of the Earth's environment.
Global warming, which is one of the most burning & discussed issues, has the worst impact on
the climate of the planet as a whole. Due to unusual weather pattern, rising greenhouse gas,
declining air quality etc. society demands that business also take responsibility in safeguarding
the planet.
Green Banking is one of the revolutionary concepts in today‟s business world which basically
refers to as sustainable banking, socially responsible banking or ethical banking that endorse
environment-friendly practices and reducing carbon footprint from banking activities.
The main objective of Green Banking is to ensure the use of organizational resources in favor of
the environment and society. Green banking as a concept is proactive and smart way of thinking
with a vision for future sustainability of our only Spaceship earth. So in a very specific way-
Green Banking means banking practices that foster environmentally responsible financing
practices as well as using environmentally sustainable internal processes.
Morshed, Rubayat and Singha (n.d., p. 11) explained that Green Banking can be viewed from
two different approaches as follows:
Environmentally Responsible
Financing Policy: Secondly, banks should consider
environmental issues with utmost importance while financing or
investing in project.
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Comments of experts about Green Banking
"We have to change our mindset about environmental issues for making a better future through
greening our mind," said Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman.
"It is time to focus on protecting our planet through initiating green banking, because the main
objective of green banking is to protect environment through pursuing environment- friendly
financing policies." “Said Mamun Rashid, Ex. managing director of Citibank NA.
“We are facing a negative impact of climate change though we contribute little to global
warming, so, we have to focus on adaptation and mitigation process to cope up the adverse
impacts of global warming, and green banking initiative can facilitate this process." said Qazi
Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, chairman of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation.
Although the theoretical idea of Green Banking is not very old; some practices can be traced
from the ancient banking & financial practices. During the 16th century religious ethics, the
environment and local community provided the main framework for both life and economy and
therefore influence businesses and the financial sector as well.
Besides, during the 19th century credit unions and financial cooperatives worked on the criteria
that were used as sustainability criteria later. (Weber n.d., p. 2)
These banks used some of the principles of the credit unions and co-operatives but added an
ethical perspective to their business. Because of higher energy and waste management prices it
was worthwhile for a service sector as well to be eco-efficient in order to reduce costs. At about
the same time new environmental regulations influenced the responsibility of business for its
environmental impact. After mainly managing costs and risks connected with environmental
issues the financial sector began to explore business opportunities connected with sustainable
development as well. Weber (n.d., p. 3) also stated that in the beginning of the 1990 the first
sustainability mutual funds, indices and other financial products and services were
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Following the political disturbance in
the 1960s and first discussion about
environmental and social
responsibilities of business,
the first ethical banks were founded
in the 1970s. they wanted
to re-integrate ethics into
the financial business.
(Weber n.d. p. 2)
Weber (n.d., p. 3) again explained that another event that influenced the financial sector to
consider environmental responsibility was the launch of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change
mitigation. Because financial instruments were needed to reduce carbon emissions, the financial
sector engaged in creating products and services around carbon reduction, carbon offsets and
financing projects under the Kyoto Protocol mechanism.
However, today the view about social or environmental responsibility in changing from
managing environmental risks into creating positive impacts on sustainable development by
using different financial products and services. This new view is reflected in the Global Impact
Investment Network (GIIN) and in the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV) both of
which emphasizes the positive role that the financial industry can play in fostering sustainable
development.
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2.3 Objectives of Green Banking
The broad objective of the Green banks are avoiding waste and giving priority to
environment and society.
Focusing on environment-friendly initiatives by providing innovative financial and
ensure sustainable development.
Using organizational resources with responsibility.
Keeping the world livable for a long period of time.
To minimize paper works as much as possible inside and outside the bank.
To achieve cost and time efficiency.
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Chapter 3
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3.1 Draft guideline of Green banking in Bangladesh
Bangladesh Bank (BB) has prepared a draft policy guideline for introducing green banking
this year in line with global development and response to the environmental degradation.
The guideline, posted on the central bank web site, outlines a three-stage roadmap for
green banking, requesting public feedback by January 25, 2011.
The guideline, in the first phase, suggests all banks to develop green banking policies and
establish separate green banking cells and incorporate environmental risk management
strategies by June 30 this year. In this phase, the banks are also advised to introduce green and
create climate risk funds to finance flood, cyclone and drought prone areas at regular interest
rate without charging additional risk premium.
Promoting eco-friendly products, supporting training and events for raising awareness for
environmental risk management are also suggested to include in the regular activities of the bank
in the next six months. In the second phase, the draft suggests banks to take specific policies by
June 2012 for different environmental sensitive sectors such as agriculture, poultry, dairy,
farming, tannery, fisheries, textile and apparels, renewable energy, pulp and paper, sugar
and distilleries, construction and housing, engineering and basic metal, chemicals, rubber and
plastic industry, hospital/clinic, chemical trading, brick manufacturing and ship breaking.
During this period, all banks will also set up green branches to use maximum natural
light, renewable energy, energy saving light bulbs and other equipment‟s. During the same
period, they will have to determine a set of achievable targets and strategies, and disclose these
in their annual reports and websites. They will have to set up green branches. The banks should
increasingly rely on virtual meeting through video conferencing.
According to the draft guideline, banks in the next one year will adopt a green strategic plan,
determining their target for green banking. The draft says a system of environment management
should be in place in all banks before they step into the third phase of green banking, to be
completed by June 2013.
In this final stage, banks will focus on fine tuning of their green activities and will look for more
innovative products and services to expand eco-friendly business and industries.
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responsible to social and environmental causes. The central bank will name top ten banks for
their overall performances in green banking, and will take into account to give it
permission to open new branches. In its policy guideline for green banking, the BB said co-
friendly business activities and energy efficient industries should get preference in financing
by the banks. The banks will have to inform the BB of their initiatives on a quarterly
basis within 15 days after the end of a quarter. The first quarterly report has to be submitted by
July 15, 2011.Besides avoiding negative impacts on environment through banking activities, the
banks are expected to introduce environment friendly green products to address the core
environmental challenges of the country.
The commercial banks are to develop green banking policies and show general commitment
on environment through in-house performances by December 31 this year. A high-powered
committee will be responsible for reviewing the banks‟ environmental policies, strategies and
programmers.
The committee will be comprised of directors from the board in case of scheduled
Bangladeshi banks and regional chief of global office and members from the top
management including chief executive in case of foreign banks. The banks will allocate a
considerable fund in their annual budget for green banking, and set up a separate green banking
unit. A senior executive should head the unit, which will report to the high-powered
committee time to time. They will have to comply with the instructions stipulated in the
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detailed guidelines on Environmental Risk Management. The banks will also incorporate
environmental and climate change risks as
part of the existing credit risk methodology
prescribed to assess a prospective borrower.
The banks should take measures to save
electricity, water and paper consumption,
according to the BB guidelines. A 'Green
Office Guide' or at least a set of general
instructions should be circulated among the
employees. Instead of relying on printed
documents, online communication should be
extensively used (where possible) for office
management.
The people of the whole world are concerned about the environmental degradation,
especially the rising of global temperature and thereby melting of glaciers and ice-berg in the
polar region and consequently rising of sea level, which will directly affect the low lying
countries of the world. The world conscious people are also concerned about the increase of
Green House Gases and Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and thereby depletion of Ozone layer. As
such, every person and especially the professionals must have greater role to check the
environmental degradation.
Bankers are the important professional group who has interaction with the other groups of people
and also with general masses. They can adopt different green activities within their in-house
environment and also can initiate the protection of the air pollution, water pollution by their
clients. Bankers can finance the green projects, which are environmental friendly and discourage
the projects that damage the environment. It will be obligatory for each person to show respect to
the environmental issues. Otherwise, the environments where the concerned person lives will
be inhabitable and as whole the country and the globe will no longer be safe place. We
have to use resources carefully and keep in the mind that the reserve of the resources is not
26
unlimited and its excessive use may endanger the future generation. We have to think that each
of our activity has a specific impact on the environment
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3.4 Green Banking practices
Installation of solar panel in the rural branches and using high mileage vehicles or using
shared vehicles instead of personal vehicle:
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Since Bangladesh is an energy deficit country we can install solar panels in all Branches as an
alternative energy source. We can also use the vehicles which consume less fuel which will
save huge fuel import of the country. We can also use big vehicles to carry the employees of the
Banks instead of personal vehicle to reduce fuel as well traffic jam in the roads.
Green Bank comes in many forms. Using online banking instead of branch banking. Paying bills
online instead of mailing them. Opening up CDs and money market accounts at online banks,
instead of large multi-branch banks.
Green Bank looks at green banking in three areas - operational, technological and client
acceptance. Banks have made improvements in the operational area such as replacing our daily
courier service with scans and electronic delivery. All employees receive paychecks and
reimbursement checks electronically.
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3.6 Green Banking products and services
Financial institutions are rushing to market with new or re-packaged product and service
offerings from green auto insurance to innovative pro-eco mortgages and new sustainability-
backing investment funds.
Online banking: Green Banking has online banking services. It is one of the major important
part of green banking, Such as
Green Deposits: Banks can offer higher rates on CDs, money market accounts, checking
accounts and savings account if customers opt to conduct their banking activities online.
Green Mortgages and Loans: A green mortgage offers better rates or terms for energy efficient
houses. Green mortgages can allow home buyers to add as much as an additional 15 percent of
the price of their house into loans for upgrades including energy-efficient windows, solar
panels, geo-thermal heating or water heaters. The savings in monthly energy bills can offset
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the higher monthly mortgage payments and save money in the long run. The Energy
Efficient Mortgage (EEM) is a type of HUD-approved green mortgage that will credit you
for your home‟s energy efficiency in the mortgage itself. Many home improvements also
qualify for the energy tax credit. Anyone undertaking an energy-saving house project should
shop around for a bank that offers a special rate for a green mortgage or loan.
Green Credit Cards: A green credit card allows cardholders to earn rewards or points which
can be redeemed for contributions to eco-friendly charitable organizations. These cards offer an
excellent incentive for consumers to use their green card for their expensive purchases.
Imagine the millions of dollars that could be raised for worthwhile environmental groups if green
credit cards really took off.
Green Reward Checking Accounts: A product called reward checking accounts pays a bonus
rate to customers who go green. Customers can earn higher checking account rates if they meet
monthly requirements like receiving electronic statements, paying bills online or using a
debit or check card. With this banking product higher rates and eco-friendly livings go hand-in-
hand.
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Table-8: Online Banking (at September 30, 2015)
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3.8 Training, Promotion and Disclosure:
Employee awareness development and training on environmental and social risk and the relevant
issues should be a continuous process as part of the bank's Human Recourse Development.
Awareness development among consumers and clients would be a continuous job of a bank
under its public relation department.27 Banks out of 56 have arranged 119 training programs
concerning green banking where total number of participants was 4,622. On the other hand, 6 FIs
out of 31 have arranged 22 training programs concerning green banking where total number of
participants was 260.
Events in this quarter .Up to September 2015, 45 Banks and 15 FIs have pursued disclosure on
green banking in their annual report; 41 Banks and 12 FIs have put green banking disclosure in
their website. 19 Banks and 5 FIs have disclosed their green banking activities in the media; 8
Banks and 2 F Is have prepared Independent Report on green banking activities.
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3.9 Rules and Regulations of Green Banking in Bangladesh
34
Besides developing a formal guideline regarding Green Banking practices, Bangladesh Bank has
also launched a refinance program of Taka 2 billion for different types of Green financing like
Solar Irrigation Pump Station, Solar Home System, Bio Gas Plant, ETP, HHK and Solar PV
module assembling plant.
According to Morshed, Rubayat & Singha (n.d., p. 4) over the past three fiscal years (FY2009-10
to FY 2011-12) the government has allocated USD 300 million under the following two
specialized funds regarding sustainable development:
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Initiatives Taken by Commercial Bank
According to Morshed et al. (2012, p. 5) With some formal guidelines of Bangladesh Bank as
well as government, the commercial banks of Bangladesh have also come up with some
remarkable initiatives regarding green banking like:
According to the report of Bangladesh Bank the top 10 banks in Green Banking activities by the
end of the year 2015 are:
1. AB Bank Limited
2. Bank Asia Limited
3. Eastern Bank Limited
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4. EXIM Bank Limited
5. IFIC Bank Limited
6. Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited
7. Prime Bank Limited
8. Rupali Bank Limited
9. Social Islami Bank Limited
10. Standard Chartered Bank Limited.
The banking sector may also have significant impacts on biodiversity while providing
financial support to high impact sectors such as forestry, mining, oil and gas, fisheries, and
infrastructure. In project finance, banks may exercise their powers through assuming roles as
environmental policeman to ensure that their borrowers comply with the environmental
standards, and could enter into a partnership with different industries and encourage companies
to be more sustainable.
Regulatory enforcement by governments,
pressure from the civil society and
consumers, voluntary support, and responses
by the business entities are preconditions for
creating a congenial atmosphere for offering
and accepting productive green banking
services. A Common platform or unique
approach by the policy makers and civil
society groups in all countries or regions
would give the best result. However, creating a common platform and launching a uniform
approach would require major political effort by all.
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Chapter 4
38
4.1 Recommendation
Bank should keep following aspects in mind while financing any projects:
1. Analyzing the project in terms of scale, nature and the magnitude of environmental
impact. The project should be evaluated on the basis of potential negative and positive
environmental effects and then compared with the „without project situation‟. There
should be an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of each project recommending the
measures needed to prevent, minimize and mitigate the environmental negative impact
before financing the projects.
2. While investing or funding the projects, the financial institutions should assess the
sensitive issues like vulnerable groups; involuntary displacement etc. and projects should
be evaluated in terms of environmentally important areas including wetlands, forests,
grasslands and other natural habitats.
3. Banking institutions need to evaluate the value of real property and the potential
4. Environmental liability associated with the real property. Therefore, the banks should
have right to inspect the property or to have an environmental audit performed through
the life of the loan.
5. Banks also need to monitor post transaction for the ideal environmental risk management
program (Rutherford, 1994) during the project implementation and operation. There
should be physical inspections of production, resources, training and support,
environmental liability, audit programs etc.
6. The next round of evaluation includes loan structuring, credit approval, and credit review
and loan management. Further banks have annual audits, quarterly environmental
compliance certificate from the independent third party and also from the government.
Further the banks can introduce green bank loans and products like:
I. Investing in environmental projects (recycling, farming, technology, waste, etc.) for
example reduced-rate of interest on loans to homeowners who install a solar energy
system
II. Providing option for customers to invest in environmentally friendly banking products
III. Investing in resources that combine ecological concerns and social concerns
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4.2 Findings:
(1) Basically Green banking avoids as much paper work as possible and rely on electronic
transactions for processing of activities. Less paperwork means less cutting of trees.
Here, most of the PCBs and FCBS adopted the GB policy except SCBs and SDBs who
have not taken such steps yet. Bangladesh Bank not only gives the policy but also provide
technical supports for GB adoption. Bangladesh Banks developed a policy for sanction
loans to environmentally harmful projects so that make sure the necessary environmental
compliance factors before lending a loan/investment. GB motivates the banking system
that reduces use of paper which create brand image and Create awareness amongst the
stakeholders about the environment as well as environmental friendly business practices
i.e. solar equipment‟s, ETP, Bio-gas Plant, Hybrid Hoffman Kiln (HHK) etc.
(2) All 47 banks (scheduled before 2013) have their own Green Banking Policy Guidelines
approved by their respective Board of Directors/Competent authority as well as have
Green Banking Unit (GBU) for pursuing Green Banking activities. They also have their
own Green Office Guide for conducting in-house green activities.
(3) All newly scheduled banks (9 banks) have formulated their own Green Banking Policy
Guidelines and all have formed Green Banking Unit (GBU) till the reporting quarter. 7
out of 9 newly scheduled banks have prepared their own Green Office Guide.
(4) 30 out of 31 FIs have formulated their own Green Banking Policy Guidelines approved
by their respective Board of Directors and 30 FIs have formed Green Banking Unit
(GBU) till the reporting quarter. 29 FIs have prepared own Green Office Guide for
conducting their in-house green activities.
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4.2 Conclusion
There is a growing awareness among banks and financial institutions to protect the environment
and thereby save 'mother planet'. Big banks are committing large funds on a sustainable basis in
responsible banking, creating more values for our next generation. They are shifting forward
from 'profit' to 'people' and now more importantly, to create a better future for all. The sooner
this philosophy of 'green banking' is embraced, the better it is for all.
A good online banking system is the linchpin of reduced costs, improved performance and
competitiveness. We provide the service at no cost to our retail and business customers. The
logical progression of online banking - converting existing customers to online bill payment - is
a harder step and can require a lot of legwork. Once customers get here, there is the chance of
moving to completely electronic banking.
As green initiatives sweep across the globe, more and more banks have been adopting green
banking practices. Today, many banks are assessing environmental risk while selecting a project
for financing. Even as the market slows in the face of economic upheaval, many banks are
keeping a focus on green.
The positive outcomes of these green initiatives are evident in many instances. However, these
are the results of collective efforts. There is no doubt that the progress so far has been made
possible because of the substantial efforts of all stakeholders, covering banks, policy makers,
civil society organizations, international development and financial institutions, business entities
and the common people (consumers).
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