Fair Finance Asia (FFA), in collaboration with Fair Finance Cambodia (FFC), ResponsiBank Indonesia, Fair Finance Pakistan (FFP), Fair Finance Philippines (FFPh), Fair Finance Thailand (FFT), and research partner, Profundo, launched a video, “Are Asian Banks Empowering Consumers as Partners in Sustainability?” The video features interviews with bank consumers in five FFA countries who share reflections on how they would like to be engaged by their banks in driving sustainability initiatives in areas, such as climate change, environmental protection, poverty, and inequality. 

On the International Day of Banks, December 4, 2024, FFA, together with FFC, ResponsiBank Indonesia, FFP, FFPh, FFT and research partner Profundo, launched a scorecard on Empowering Consumers as Drivers of Sustainability in Asia’s Financial Sector, which benchmarked the policies of 15 banks across Cambodia, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Thailand across four key areas: financial inclusion, consumer protection, financial literacy and education, and engagement and accountability mechanisms.    

The scorecard found that while banks scored better on average in financial inclusion (5.2/10) and consumer protection (5.5/10), they scored poorly on engagement and accountability mechanisms (1.3/10). Across four key areas, the assessed banks scored 3.5/10 on average. These scores highlight the need for Asian banks to balance inclusion goals with financial literacy and consumer empowerment initiatives to ensure that their clients are not only meaningfully informed about their sustainability strategies and financing practices, but are also able to hold them accountable for implementing these strategies and commitments.   

FFA’s video calls on Asian banks to facilitate enabling mechanisms that empower consumers and bank clients to take action and drive social and environmental sustainability together. 

Watch the video here.  

Access FFA’s scorecard here.