Green projects to get priority under TMB Thanachart’s new lending policy

Piti Tantakasem said the move would result in more financial products and services to support sustainability-related projects of each company.

He cited as examples the purchasing of new machines with lower energy consumption and zero carbon emissions, or switching to renewable energy at the manufacturing site.

It was part of the ttb framework known as B+ESG (business plus Environment, Social, and Governance). Piti identifies these as the key factors driving the bank to become a sustainable banking and financial well-being institution.

In addition, he indicated that he would make it easier for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) to obtain loans.

However, since the majority of Thai SMEs still have no idea on how to participate in sustainability trends, he said the bank would initially provide workshop courses, training, and seminars to raise awareness among SMEs.

They will at least comprehend the concept of sustainability and have some ideas for implementing green solutions in their operations, he said.

"We discovered that banks typically play a supportive role in a company's ability to make changes or impact in the business ecosystem. As a result, in order to effect real change under the ESG model, we [ttb] must act as an intermediary, empowering businesses to achieve their sustainability goals," he explained.

Apart from establishing green and blue bonds, which aim to provide low-interest loans to environmentally friendly and ocean protection projects, Piti pointed out that the bank also provides financial technologies and platforms to assist social foundations in fundraising and other back-end management, such as issuing receipts and tax deductions.

The platform of the foundation is called Pan Boon (merit sharing). Currently, more than 270 foundations are involved in the charity fund via this platform, which has raised more than 400 million baht in donations.

He acknowledged that the change would also mean the end of some ttb products. For example, the bank does not see itself advancing new loans to harmful industries, such as coal and mining.

He said that by 2028, the bank's portfolio would contain no loans for the coal business.

Saranya Phuphatana, the chief commercial banking officer at TMB Thanachart, added that the bank expects to increase the percentage of green and blue loans from around 2% (13 billion baht) at present to 10% over the next five years, which would amount to between 50 and 60 billion baht.

Besides, the bank aimed to maintain its position as the country's leading provider of loans for electric vehicles. It currently lends around 6.5 billion baht for EVs.

Meanwhile, he pointed out that most large corporations are already aware of and understand the need to transform their operations towards sustainability.

He said that it would be preferable to assist SMEs in developing the proper mindset so that they can make their own moves.

Piti said the bank believes that businesses and ESG must work together to achieve sustainability goals, and vowed that TTB would be a part of this movement in order to bring about real change.