*Indian Institute of Banking & Finance (IIBF), one of the premier Institutes of professional education in Banking & Finance domain in India, has successfully concluded a series of workshops on ‘Climate Risk and Responsible Banking’*

Mumbai, 06th February 2023 (GNI):.Indian Institute of Banking & Finance (IIBF), one of the premier Institutes of professional education in Banking & Finance domain in India, has successfully concluded a series of workshops on ‘Climate Risk and Responsible Banking’ for Banking & Finance Professionals in Mumbai, spanning four-days between 30^th January, 2023 and 2^nd February, 062023, in collaboration with Principles of Responsible Banking (PRB) Academy promoted by United Nations Environment Programme- Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI).

The workshops were conducted as part of the general awareness and foundational capacity-building programme on the impact of climate change and sustainable finance. 

The content for the workshop with respect to the financial sector in India has been developed by IIBF, while Chartered Banker Institute, UK has developed the global contents. This pilot project launched in India by PRB Academy in association with IIBF, has been funded by GIZ, Germany.

These training cum awareness sessions were conducted specifically for different levels of Banking and Finance Professionals in the financial ecosystem in India, namely:

1. Board-Members and Senior Executives 
2. General Bankers (Deputy General Manager/equivalent and above)
3. Credit and Risk Management Officers
4. Corporate Relationship Managers 

“We are keenly examining the feedbacks received from the Banks on the RBI discussion paper on climate change and sustainable finance,” said Mr. Saurav Sinha, Executive Director-Reserve Bank of India, during the first day of the programme meant for Board Members and Senior Executives. Mr. Sunil Mehta, Chief Executive-Indian Banks’ Association, congratulated IIBF on the initiative and suggested to hold similar programmes going forward, as well. 

During the workshops, some of the fundamental areas of climate risk and probable strategies to counter those risks have been deliberated upon. The participating Bankers have shared the best practices adopted by their respective Banks in factoring climate risk in their respective credit policies and product designing. The participants have also discussed on the probable strategies to be adopted for certain key sectors in terms of climate risk, namely agriculture, steel, fossil fuels, chemicals, pharmaceuticals etc.

While the first workshop for Board-Members and Senior Executives were conducted at Hotel Trident, Nariman Point, the rest three workshops were conducted at Hotel Trident, BKC. 

All the four workshops have seen an overwhelming response from the Banking fraternity and active participations from the nominated officials, including the Board Members across Public Sector Banks, Private Sector Banks, Small Finance Banks & Development Financial Institutions.

Based on the feedback received from the participating Bankers, IIBF is considering to hold similar workshops on pertinent topics like, climate risk stress testing and scenario analysis, TCFD guidelines etc., in different parts of the country, stated in the press release.ends GNI SG