LIMITS TOGETHER
This year’s bold and eye-catching cover features an EXIM Bank representative working in tandem with a business owner towards greater horizons. Together, they achieve balance, mitigate risks and navigate with skill to achieve greater opportunities that lie beyond borders. The adventurous concept embodies the Bank’s passion and commitment to work towards shared goals with our stakeholders.
STATEMENT
Dear Stakeholders,
It is my privilege and honour to address you in my role as the new Chairman of Export-Import Bank of Malaysia Berhad (EXIM Bank or the Bank). I present this Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements for the financial year ended 31 December 2023 (FY2023).
REVIEW
Dear Stakeholders,
In 2023, Exim Bank weathered a global environment of softer export trade activities with proactive action and unwavering resolve. Our ability to adapt to changing market dynamics, coupled with a more dynamic approach, have been instrumental in turning around performance. We intensified strategic engagements and beefed up capacity to execute robust marketing tactics to targeted customers. These drove better business performance within a challenging year. I am proud to report EXIM Bank delivered profit after tax of RM24.98 million for FY2023.
JOURNEY
As we embarked on our sustainability journey at EXIM Bank, a key focus for us was developing a meaningful and impactful approach for all our stakeholders. This involved a deep understanding of our role as a Development Financial Institution (DFI). We recognise the importance of promoting holistic development, responsible financial stewardship, and contributing to a more sustainable and equitable future. Sustainability is becoming an integral part of our strategy, aligning perfectly with our mandate to finance and support exports and imports of goods, services and overseas projects and investments with emphasis on non-traditional markets.
In 2023, we focused on strengthening sustainability within our operations. We directed our efforts on delivering core activities and initiatives related to four key areas: governance, strategy, awareness and capacity building, and advocacy. By integrating sustainability into our daily operations, we aim to achieve several goals; enhance the resilience of the communities that we serve, promote responsible business practices among our clients, and contribute meaningfully to global efforts in addressing environmental challenges.
PILLARS
We want to be a force for positive change, fostering a lasting and positive impact to our customers, the environment and the community. In 2023, we defined the impact that we aim to create by establishing three key sustainability pillars:
We remain committed to upholding these three pillars and delivering on our sustainability aspirations to our stakeholders. These commitments are anchored on four core principles that guide our actions:
- Understanding our responsibilities in preserving the environment and safeguarding the rights of all living creation according to Islamic rules and principles.
- Continuous learning towards understanding how our operations and activities impact the environment and community.
- Utilising scientific aspects of conserving resources and ensuring its management are developed in ways that benefits all generations equitably.
- Engaging with regulators and policy makers and keeping track of local and international environmental and climaterelated regulations in order to be able to form policies.
- Advising our clients and supporting them in complying with evolving regulatory requirements.
- Advocating for sustainability learning based on Islamic rules and principles and global supervisory guidelines.
- Talent management that takes into consideration requirements for the necessary knowledge and skills related to Sustainability and climate risk.
- Contributing towards the development of impactful national policy formation and implementation through multi-stakeholder engagements.
- Forming collaborative relationships with our customers towards navigating change and achieving their decarbonisation targets.
- Being a trusted partner for our customers by providing tailored financial solutions needed to support their transition goals.
- Supporting projects and initiatives that create high environment and social impact.
- Incorporating industry-specific assessments relating to preservation of biodiversity, natural habitats and climate-related risks and opportunities in our decisionmaking process.
- Identifying sectors that have material negative environmental impact (i.e. high emissions sectors) and engage with our customers in their transition towards sustainable business practices.
- Quantifying our portfolio emissions and developing decarbonisation strategies.
- Determining our enterprise-level emissions and monitoring and reducing our impact towards the environment.
- Utilising science-based and data-centric methodologies to achieve our goals.
- Being transparent in the disclosure of our environmental impact to our stakeholders.
- Assessing our enterprise-level carbon footprint by calculating Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions and determining pathways towards achieving enterprise carbon neutrality by FY2030.
- Monitoring and reporting on emissions reduction progress against the established targets.
- Incorporating sustainability in our supply chain and communicating our expectations to suppliers in upholding environmental and social responsibilities.
- Complying with Islamic rules and principles, other applicable laws and regulations that relate to human rights and fair labour practices.
- Safeguarding the rights of all our stakeholders and preventing negative impacts towards the most vulnerable members of the community. We will not knowingly engage in any business relationship with customers who are involved in bribery, child or forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking, illegal deforestation and any activities deemed illegal under country laws and regulations.
- Prioritising employee welfare and ensuring that we create a healthy, safe and inclusive workplace environment for our employees. We will also focus on building a strong sustainability culture within the Bank.
- Commiting to promote financial inclusion, particularly for the unserved and underserved segments.
- Establishing policies to safeguard human rights concerns, fair labour practices and employee well-being.
- Aligning sustainability and social impact initiatives with our advocacy efforts relating to creating awareness on sustainability for the underserved segments.
- Establishing suppliers’ evaluation criteria that incorporates elements of diversity, equality and inclusiveness, and assess whether our vendors are adopting sustainable and responsible practices.