Getting Started In Responsible Banking

About the Course 

Getting Started in Responsible Banking is the PRB Academy’s introductory course. It is aimed at all bank employees who would like to learn more about the Principles and practice of responsible banking so that they can support implementation of their bank’s strategy, serve their customers well, and reflect on what they personally can do to contribute to a more responsible banking profession and support the transition to a more sustainable world.

Aligning banking with society’s goals and embedding the Principles for Responsible Banking across the banking sector overall is a shared endeavour. Success requires policymakers, central banks and regulators, international organisations (such as UNEP FI), and banks and other financial institutions to consistently promote and support an ethos of responsible banking. It also requires building the capacity and capabilities of banks and bankers so that a strong, socially purposeful culture is developed and sustained where every professional financial decision takes account of climate, environmental and social sustainability factors.

Course Details and Modules

The aim of this course is to raise your awareness and knowledge of the concept of sustainability, what it means to be a responsible bank, the key role that banks play in the economy and society, what influences how a bank is governed, and how the Principles for Responsible Banking provide a framework for ensuring that banks’ strategies, activities and operations align with society’s goals as expressed in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement.

Key objectives are to give you a basic knowledge and understanding of:

• environmental and social sustainability issues that a bank’s lending and other activities have an impact on, and which also create risks and opportunities that have an impact on banks’ strategies and activities
• banking, and how the governance, strategies, activities and operations of banks can both align with or detract from society’s goals
• the principles and practice of responsible banking and sustainable finance
• the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement, and how banks’ activities can both support and detract from the achievement of these
• the UN Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) and how these can be embedded in banks’ strategies, activities and operations
• how the day-to-day practice of individual bankers like you can ensure that responsible banking in general, and the PRB in particular, are embedded in your bank and across the banking sector overall.

Getting Started in Responsible Banking consists of five units:

1. Sustainability in Banking
2. The Role of Banks and Banking in the Economy and Society
3. Key Influences on Bank Governance
4. The Principles for Responsible Banking
5. Call to Action

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

1. explain the concept of sustainability and identify a range of environmental and social issues that must be addressed to support the needs of the present and those of future generations
2. explain the purpose and core functions of a bank, the ways in which different types of banking can support the sustainability agenda, and recognise the key role that banks play in the economy and wider society
3. describe key influences on bank governance in terms of stakeholders, strategy, purpose, drivers of, and approaches to, banking regulation, and the influence of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria on bank operations
4. recognise the role of banking in supporting achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement
5. describe, and explain the purpose of, the Principles for Responsible Banking and recognise the ways in which these are implemented in banking operations
6. identify what banks can do, and what you personally can do, to help address environmental and social issues using the Principles for Responsible Banking as a framework to ensure a more responsible banking profession and support the transition to a more sustainable world.

What learning resources are available?

Your learning resources include:

• interactive eLearning content
• audio-visual resources
• case studies
• opportunities to reflect on your own professional and personal practice and create an action plan to help your bank embed the Principles for Responsible Banking and support the transition to a more sustainable world.

Certification

Upon completing this course, the user will be awarded a digital certificate and badge.