Bank of Nanjing is one of the few regional banks in China to have committed to developing green finance, making it Asiamoney’s pick for this award this year.
In 2020, the bank’s green loans grew 38.6% to Rmb67.4 billion ($10.5 billion) – the fastest growth among the top five regional banks in China. Green lending accounted for more than 15% of corporate loans by the end of 2020, the highest share for those regional peers.
Led by chairman Hu Shengrong, Bank of Nanjing reiterated its long-term goal of becoming a green bank last year. For the first time, it established a green branch in Nanjing city’s Jiangbei development zone, where it focuses on green lending and other sustainable financial services. The bank also launched its first green wealth management product, something of a rarity for a regional bank.
The firm underwrote Rmb2 billion of green bonds last year – more than any of its regional peers in China and more than some of the national joint-stock banks.
With such credentials, Bank of Nanjing has shown that regional banks can grow fast and become respectable names in the field of green finance.