CO-OPERATIVE BANK IS THE OVERALL KBA 2017 WINNER IN FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY AWARD

Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) is the umbrella body of the banking industry. It announced finalists of the 2017 Sustainable Finance Catalyst Awards and the theme was Recognizing Catalyst Finance that impacts industry, economy and society. 14 firms were shortlisted to showcase their progressive stance in integrating sustainability in their respective institutions.

Co-operative bank has emerged as the overall winner of the KBA 2017 Sustainable Finance Catalyst Award. It scooped the award away as a result of building a sustainable strategy that enables people, businesses and society to grow in a sustainable way in the long-term.

“As a bank that is predominantly owned by the 14 million-member co-operative movement, we are inclusive by design that has not only enabled us to deliver shared prosperity today, but also helped us build an awareness and prudence to avoid putting future generations in jeopardy,” said Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Co-operative Bank Mr. Gideon Muriuki.

Co-operative bank stood out for championing Green Finance by Financing Investments in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy with worth in excess of USD 50 million. These include financing of mini-hydro power plants such as the 6 Megawatt Gura Power project of the KTDA that replaced the use of fuel wood in tea factories and 600 Kilowatts solar plant by Strathmore University that supplies all energy of the campus  with surplus sold to the grid, the first solar plant connected to the grid.

This year’s judging panelists are;

1 Ms. Anne Macharia, a senior Compliance and Enforcement Officer at the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA)

2 Ms. Rosemary Mutunkoi, a corporate sustainability and social investment practitioner

3 Mr. Tumurkhu Davaakhuu, the Vice President of the Mongolian Bankers Association (MBA)

4 Engineer Dan Likuyi Ndenga, Co-founder of Energy Advisory Firm Miltec Engineering Limited

5 Mr. Edward Mungai the CEO of the Kenya Climate Innovation Centre (KCIC)

6 Dr. Peter Muriu, a Financial and Monetary lecturer at the University of Nairobi

The following are the Categories;

Category I

-Best practice in Sustainable Finance

-Sustainability through policy and amp;Governance

Category II

-Client Case Study- Financing Micro, Small and amp;Medium-sized companies

-Client Case Study – Bank operations and amp; Policy

Special Category

-Best Overall Award