JB Financial Group on Thursday laid out mid-and long-term strategies to step up its sustainable business management focused on environmental, social and corporate governance values.

In a statement, the holding group of Jeonbuk Bank and Kwangju Bank introduced its ESG goals under a new company vision titled “Marching toward a better future with JB Financial.” 

The company will strive toward adopting a swift response to climate-related risks, achieving carbon neutrality, ethical management activities and enhance shareholders’ rights as well as diversify board composition, the statement read. 

The announcement came after the banking giant launched a decision-making body for ESG management under the board of directors in late March as investors have increasingly valued ESG standards alongside financial factors in their investment process in the wake of the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the three pillars of ESG management, JB Financial has put top priority on environmental issues this year, officials said. 

Earlier this year, it became a signatory to the Carbon Disclosure Project -- a nonprofit organization established in the UK in 2000 that offers companies a system for measuring, recording and managing carbon emissions. As of 2019, 8,400 companies from 92 countries around the world participated in the CDP, and about 100 of those were in South Korea.

The group is currently planning to join the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures in the second half of the year. The TFCD is a global industry-led initiative created by the Financial Stability Board in 2015 to encourage financial companies to voluntarily disclose climate-related risks to investors and lenders.

Meanwhile, ESG-related goals will be included in key performance indicators of JB Financial’s executives.

“With the new ESG strategies, JB Financial will closely communicate with customers, executives, shareholders, partners, and local communities and carry out sustainable management activities,” a JB Financial official said. 

By Choi Jae-hee (cjh@heraldcorp.com)