A special meeting of the Governing Council of FHA was convened on 14th November to discuss the Sustainable Road Map for Finance Industry.
A special meeting of the Governing Council of FHA was convened on 14th November to discuss the Sustainable Road Map for Finance Industry.
14 Nov 2023
Time
9:00am
Location
UN Compound
In a context where the current financial requirements far exceed the available resources for financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the climate ambitions, the private sector - banks, financial institutions and businesses - needs to play a greater role in supporting the country’s sustainable development priorities and plans. Private financial institutions will have to increase the scale of their investing operations in SDG and net-zero aligned activities.
In 2019, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka launched the Sri Lanka Sustainable Finance Road Map providing guidance and support for financial institutions in managing environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks associated with greener, climate- friendly and socially inclusive businesses.
The Finance Houses Association, (FHA), the industry representative body of the Licensed Finance Companies (LFCs) in Sri Lanka, having over 30 finance companies approved by the Central Bank in its membership, is an important stakeholder in implementing the Sri Lanka Sustainable Finance Road Map. The FHA sustainability mandate extends to providing guidelines for the LFCs in Sri Lanka to integrate sustainability principles holistically into their businesses, enabling sustainable value creation through their own sustainable finance approaches, in line with defined sustainability guidelines, that would ultimately contribute towards national sustainability agenda and the SDGs.
A special meeting of the Governing Council of FHA was convened on 14th November to discuss the Sustainable Road Map for Finance Industry. The discussions focused on creating awareness on SDG sectors that need urgent investments as well as to engage the LFCs more meaningfully in implementing the Sri Lanka Sustainable Finance Road Map.
The Director General of the Sustainable Development Council, Chamindry Saparamadu presented the current SDG progress, gaps and challenges while the UNDP SDG Integration Specialist, Dulani Sirisena presented the SDG aligned Investment Opportunities mapped through the recently launched Sri Lanka SDG Investor Map and the Chairman of the Sustainable Finance Sub-committee of FHA and Managing Director of Alliance Finance Co. PLC Romany de Silva presented the Sustainability Standards and Certification Initiative (SSCI) for the finance industry.
The discussions focused on opportunities for collaborating to develop a holistic plan to drive financing to where it is needed the most in the Micro, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (MSME) space and using leasing as a financial instrument for capital formation.
The meeting was attended by Chief Executive Officers and sustainability leads of approximately 30 LFCs including members of the FHA Council.
