Recently updated on September 30th, 2018 at 01:41 pm
For the second consecutive year in a row, Access Bank Plc has been awarded the Outstanding Business Sustainability Achievement Award 2017 at the 2017 Karlsruhe Sustainable Finance Awards in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Held on July 13, 2017 and attended by CEOs of leading international financial institutions, senior executives of other winning institutions and top German government officials, the award was presented to Access Bank CEO, Mr Herbert Wigwe.
The award conveners presented the accolade in recognition of Access Bank’s outstanding success in incorporating economic, social and environmental aspects into its corporate strategy and business processes.
This prize also brings global recognition to the Bank’s impressive success in holistically embedding sustainability across all aspects of operations within the financial institution.
This recognition comes a year after Access Bank made history as the first African bank to receive this prestigious accolade.
The award was received barely a week after Nigeria’s foremost rating agency, Agusto & Co upgraded the Bank’s rating from A+ to AA-
In receiving the award, Mr Herbert Wigwe said:
“Since we were here last year to receive the 2016, ‘Outstanding Business Sustainability Achievement Award’, Access Bank has continued to champion responsible investing, innovative health initiatives, environmental protection and financial inclusion.
We are doing this profitably. So, we continue to encourage other institutions to embrace the same principles and practices.
At Access Bank, we believe our operations, loan and project finance must have the barest environmental footprint. Indeed, we believe the net impact of our activities must be positive on the environment.
As such, we are champions of climate change mitigation and adaptation” he added. He assured that the Bank will be further motivated and maintain profitable growth while embracing sustainability.”
The Bank of Industry (BoI) Limited also won the Karlsruhe sustainable development award for its pioneering role in the massive deployment of off-grid electrification projects in some select rural communities across the country.
In partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) the development finance institution, through its Access to Renewable Energy (AtRE) project, is piloting the deployment of micro-grid and stand-alone solar solutions in the off-grid communities across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria.
The conveners said the 2017 Karlsruhe Sustainable Finance Awards focused on honouring organizations that have made outstanding contributions in the field of sustainable finance, stimulated the interests of financial institutions and other stakeholders in integrating sustainability in their core business strategy.
