The Equator Principles

In order to promote sustainable development, Taishin Financial Holdings Co., Ltd.(“Taishin FHC”) has followed for many years the practices and guidelines established by international institution, including the Carbon Disclosure Project(CDP) and several certifications for ISO, and signed the support for TCFD (Task-force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure) at the beginning of 2019. Today (11 November), Taishin International Bank, an important subsidiary of Taishin FHC, announced that it is now officially adopted the Equator Principles, and becomes a member of the Equator Principles Association. From now on, Taishin International Bank will follow the Equator Principles to review its credit facility cases so as to urge its customers envisaging the potential risks or negative impacts of the environment and society ,enhance the asset quality of Taishin International Bank and help customers operate steadily.

Since 2015, Taishin International Bank has adopted the spirit of the Equator Principles for project financing cases/project-related financing cases, established an audit evaluation mechanism, and disclosed the results in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report, said Sharon Lin, the Chief Executive Officer of Wholesale Banking Group of Taishin International Bank. After the “Green Financial Principles” were formulated by Taishin FHC in 2019, Taishin International Bank further set up the categories identifying industries that can be actively supported or the controversial corporates that should be avoided directly to engage with, and strengthen the evaluation process of credit facility cases provided to five climate change sensitive industries. The above fully demonstrates that Taishin International Bank values sustainable banking and actively develops credit-granting strategies with ESG risks.

Since the CSR Committee established in 2014, Taishin FHC has actively promoted the CSR in every aspect. For the first time in 2018, Taishin FHC was selected for the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) "World Index" and "Emerging Market Index", and re-elected in 2019. In the professional ESG market index, Taishin FHC has been selected in the "Taiwan Corporate Governance 100 Index", "Taiwan High Salive 100 Index", "Taiwan Sustainable Index", FTSE4Good Emerging Markets Institutions, and top 100 companies in the emerging market for Vigeo Eiris. This year, Taishin FHC has won more than 100 awards from domestic and foreign professional organizations.

Sharon Lin emphasized that after joining the Equator Principles Association, Taishin International Bank will establish a project financing credit system that is more in line with international standards, and continue to pay attention to the international sustainable development trend, and make a more positive contribution to corporate social responsibility by the financial profession.

The Equator Principles website: www.equator-principles.com