by ANIS HAZIM / pic by TMR FILE

BURSA Malaysia Bhd has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd and OCBC Bank Malaysia Bhd to advance Malaysian’s public listed companies (PLCs) in adopting environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices.

Bursa Malaysia CEO Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift (picture) said this collaboration opens a window of opportunity for a wide range of collaborative activities, particularly in the ESG space.

“We will collaborate to develop sustainable financing options that recognise the ESG convention in accordance with good assessment criteria,” Muhammad Umar said at the virtual MoU signing yesterday.

He added that sustainable financing will enable PLCs to accelerate their ESG adoption and enhance their ESG rating through inclusion efforts in the market ESG index.

“Agencies will also benefit from this collaboration, branding and capacity building exercises which include exposures, exchange, investor relations, engagement and platforms,” he stated.

He said the agencies will have the opportunity to participate in specialised technical workshops and climate-related disclosures.

“Ultimately, the collaboration today looks to spur the growth of sustainable finance while enhancing PLCs appeals to investors,” he pressed.

Muhamad Umar is confident that the collaboration will result in significant tangible benefits to Bursa Malaysia, the PLCs and the capital market.

Alliance Bank Malaysia CEO Joel Kornreich said the collaboration will enable the bank to help small and large businesses to innovate and grow sustainably, and address their needs holistically.

“With the help of Bursa Malaysia, we will perform a sustainability gap analysis to help businesses identify areas for improvement and develop a roadmap towards improving their sustainability ratings,” Kornreich said.

OCBC Bank Malaysia CEO Datuk Ong Eng Bin is looking forward to the ESG collaboration with Bursa Malaysia and other PLCs.

“This is where we can leverage on each other’s competencies to accelerate the adoption of ESG tpractices among Malaysian PLCs because they are the forefront of businesses,” stated Ong.

He hopes the process leads to the structuring of groundbreaking forms of sustainable financing facilities with PLCs to support the advancement of the sustainability agenda.