The information was transmitted by the director of the Regulation and Organization of the Financial System department of the National Bank of Angola (BNA), Carla Gomes, referring that the subscription process to the NGFS ('Network for Greening the Financial System') is running normally.
"In this membership, we find a set of responsibilities that are inherent to our activity, not only in our mission to monitor the financial system, but also in monetary policies, economic policy for the stability of the financial system context", she said.
Speaking at the 1st Conference on Sustainability in Banking, the official noted that the process of joining the NGFS relies on the partnership of a central bank, which she did not specify, which together they evaluate internally for BNA procedures.
The process of evaluating internal procedures at the BNA takes place "as an institution that also wants to implement internally ESG [set of criteria used to assess the performance of companies in relation to environmental, social and corporate governance issues] in its activities".
"As a central bank, it also wants to have green policies, it wants to have sustainability and good government policies", stressed Carla Gomes.
The conference promoted in Luanda by the Angolan Association of Banks (Abanc) has the theme "ESG ['Environmental, Social and Governance'] and Sustainability in Banking".
The official, who spoke at the meeting about "Perspectives of the Regulator on ESG for Angola", also highlighted the actions carried out by the financial system supervisory board, a body of the BNA, in the creation of the "sustainability pillar" within the scope of its strategy.
As she explained, in this pillar, in transversal actions, they proposed "to prepare a diagnosis to assess the level of ESG adaptation in the financial system with an impact on the institutions' investment and business decisions".
"We also proposed to create socio-environmental policies for the financial sector and ensure their adoption, create and promote a corporate governance code for the financial system", concluded the director of the BNA's Financial System Regulation and Organization department.
The landscape of ESG in the financial sector, best practices and challenges for integrating ESG in banking, and ESG and the transition to banking in Angola were some of the topics discussed at this conference.
