30 Mar 2023
Furthering National Development Bank PLC’s commitment towards a greener planet and a sustainable business model, the Bank entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) on 16th March 2023 at the Boardroom of NDB Bank, Nawam Mawatha, Colombo 02. The Director General of GGGI, Dr Frank Rijsberman, signed on behalf of GGGI while the Director/CEO of NDB Bank – Mr Dimantha Seneviratne, and Vice President – Project Finance and Corporate Credit Control of NDB Bank – Ms Ishani Palliyaguru signed on behalf of the NDB Bank. Through this partnership, NDB is poised to initiate preparatory measures for the future issuance of sustainability bonds. The GGGI will lend its technical expertise to support NDB in designing a robust sustainability bond framework. Through a sustainability bond issuance, NDB plans to finance a diverse array of green and social projects, spanning from renewable energy and sustainable transportation to green infrastructure, nature-based solutions, climate-smart agriculture, and other nascent green industries.
The groundwork for this partnership was laid by a high-level event on Strategies and Actions to Accelerate Sri Lanka's Transition to a Green Development Pathway, convened on 6th February 2023 by the Ministry of Environment and the GGGI. The event brought together important stakeholders from the government, private sector, development partners, academia, and civil society under the patronage of Sri Lankan President H.E. Ranil Wickramasinghe and H.E. Ban Ki-moon, President of the Assembly and Chair of the Council of the Global Green Growth Institute and the Eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations. The high-level event included a panel discussion on strategies to enhance Sri Lanka’s transition to a green economy, which was chaired by Dr Achala Abeysinghe, GGGI Asia Regional Director and Head of Programs. At the panel discussion Ms Kumudini Vidyalankara, Director of Climate Change at the Ministry of Environment, underscored the need for creating enabling environments in Sri Lanka to mobilize sustainable financing. As a panelist Mr Dimantha Seneviratne further highlighted the urgent need for a green growth model, emphasizing the crucial role of the private sector in fostering sustainable financial products. Such collaboration could greatly bolster government-led development efforts. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka's launch of the "Green Finance Taxonomy" has further strengthened the framework for eco-conscious financing in the country.
NDB has been at the forefront of gaining access to sizeable financial sources and has led the banking sector to finance green investments domestically and abroad while also partaking in building the necessary institutional capacity to play this role. With this extensive history of financing green projects for development, NDB is well-positioned to serve as a financial catalyst for Sri Lanka's transformation to a green economy.
NDB Bank was recently named the Best Bank in Sri Lanka by Euromoney, making it the fourth major award received from the world’s most prestigious publications in financial services – Euromoney, Global Finance and The Banker. This win for NDB comes in the light of being named the ‘Most Awarded Corporate 2021’ as per LMD ranking. The Bank was also recently named one of the ‘Top 50 Best Workplaces in Sri Lanka 2022’ by Great Place To Work, USA. NDB is the 4th largest listed bank in Sri Lanka and the parent company of the NDB Group. The only financial services group in Sri Lanka, NDB Group is uniquely positioned towards assisting the growth and development of the Sri Lankan financial market to provide its customers seamless access to the product and service offerings of all its group companies.
Based in Seoul, GGGI is a treaty-based international, inter-governmental organization - with 45 Members and over 20 countries and regional integration organization(s) in the process of accession - dedicated to supporting and promoting strong, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth in developing countries and emerging economies. Sri Lanka became the 30th member of GGGI in 2019 and was elected as Vice President of the Assembly and Vice Chair of the Council of GGGI in October 2022. GGGI serves the role of an enabler and facilitator of Members’ transition into a low-carbon green economy, providing policy advice and technical support in the development of green growth plans, policies and regulations, mobilization of green investments, implementation of green growth projects, and development of local capacities and knowledge sharing. Further information on GGGI’s events, projects and publications can be found at www.gggi.org.