VNBA, Moody's Ratings worked on green finance

Attending the meeting, on the VNBA side, there were Mr. Nguyen Thanh Son - Director of the Training Center (VNBA), along with leaders of several departments, units and representatives of many VNBA member credit institutions (attending online). On the Moody's Ratings side, there were Ms. Shirley Oh - Vice President and Customer Relationship Manager for Southeast Asia, Mr. Rahul Ghosh - Global Finance Director and representatives of VIS Rating (member of Moody's Ratings).

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Son emphasized that in the context of the world accelerating the green transformation process, Vietnam identified this as an inevitable trend and a strategic driving force to realize the goal of sustainable development, especially the commitment to achieve zero net emissions by 2050. The banking industry plays a key role in this process, with the mobilization and effective allocation of financial resources for green sectors.

Mr. Son said that green finance in Vietnam is currently based on two main pillars: green credit and green bonds. As of December 31, 2024, nearly 50 credit institutions have deployed green loans, focusing mainly on renewable energy and clean energy projects. Meanwhile, the green bond market is still modest compared to its potential, but is receiving increasing attention from both banks and businesses, aiming to build an effective long-term capital mobilization channel.

Notably, many Vietnamese banks have begun to practice and integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into their internal risk management processes. Mr. Son affirmed that Circular 17/2022/TT-NHNN guiding the implementation of environmental risk management in credit granting activities of credit institutions and foreign bank branches of the State Bank of Vietnam is an important legal foundation for credit institutions to gradually specify ESG criteria in their operations.

From Moody’s Ratings, Mr. Rahul Ghosh shared the organization’s journey of integrating ESG into the global credit rating system, and updated the prominent trends in sustainable finance in the Asia-Pacific region. Moody’s has currently rated more than 800 financial institutions and issued in-depth reports, in which ESG is identified as a factor with a long-term impact on credit profiles. Mr. Ghosh also introduced a series of Moody’s tools and initiatives such as the net emission target assessment (ZRA), the second-party opinion service (SPO), and financial adaptation strategies in the face of global geopolitical fluctuations. In addition, he spent time discussing and directly answering many questions from member financial institutions about the practical application of ESG.

At the meeting, Moody’s Ratings representatives answered many questions from credit institutions about ESG and some issues that credit institutions are interested in. The meeting opened up many practical perspectives, from theory to practical experience, helping Vietnamese financial institutions better understand the requirements, challenges and opportunities in the process of applying ESG and developing sustainable finance. The two sides agreed to continue to strengthen cooperation, through specialized seminars and technical exchanges, to support the Vietnamese banking system to improve its adaptability in the current volatile transition period.

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