The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) announces the formation of its new Sustainability committee composed of individuals from the Bank with the ability to monitor, manage and address topics pertaining to sustainability and responsible banking.

The formation of the committee is a natural next step for NBB, following its adoption of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations on a board level, appointing the Bank’s Nomination, Remuneration, Governance and Sustainability (NRGS) committee to be responsible for overseeing sustainability integration within NBB’s business and operations. The recent changes within the bank work to align NBB’s sustainability strategy and roadmap with its goal of becoming an influential market leader and pioneer within the sustainability field in the financial industry.

The committee is formed of six members with diverse backgrounds and diligent foundational knowledge, and led by appointed Chair, Dana Buheji, Group Chief Human Resources & Sustainability Officer, who will work to guide the Bank on its ongoing sustainability journey. As part of NBB’s efforts towards diversity, the committee is composed equally of both genders, with a 50% male and 50% female ratio, while also being split equally in terms of member representations from both Business and Support internal backgrounds.

The committee members; Abdulrahim A. Hameed - Senior Associate Debt Capital Markets & Syndications, Corporate & Institutional Investment Banking, Ali Faqihi - Assistant Relationship Manager, Corporate & Institutional Investment Banking, Deena Kowhari - Team Leader, Business Credit Review, Commercial & SMEs, Nada Ishaq - Retail Marketing Manager, Retail Banking Division, Reem Aldoseri - Group Head of Property, Property, Procurement & Administration, Salman Radhi - Information Security Risk Analyst, Risk Management; all have 13 years of average working experience, and will enable the committee to diversify the bank’s activities.

In line with the bank’s aim to emerge as a best-in-class bank committed to sustainable development through responsible initiatives, the committee was tasked to support shaping NBB’s sustainability roadmap in line with its purpose, mission, promise and values, and will be responsible for driving awareness, monitoring and reporting activities. The Bank’s responsibilities will extend beyond its core business towards achieving inclusivity of all stakeholders in a sustainable manner.

After producing the Bank’s and Bahrain’s first Annual Financial and Sustainability report for the year 2020, NBB successfully completed various internal and external activities covering a number of areas as part of adopting the pillars within the ongoing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Strategy. As part of its pillar to nurture the workforce, several training sessions were conducted and extended to all employees and board members, successfully managing to provide training for 95% of employees, a couple was a about the importance of ESG in Banking, Diversity & Inclusion and Corporate Governance related webinars. The Bank successfully left a direct environmental footprint with a year-on-year water and energy consumption reduction, along with other environmental initiatives that touched upon NBB’s sustainability framework.

Group Chief Human Resources & Sustainability Officer, Dana Buheji, said: “Our ongoing commitment to develop and successfully implement sustainability across our operations, keeps us on track towards becoming a leader in the field of sustainability within the Kingdom of Bahrain. This comes in continuation of our ongoing efforts to eventually become the Kingdom’s Employer of Choice as well as the investors’ choice, further cementing NBB’s position as one of the leading organisations for Bahranisation within the Kingdom. We are also one of the first organisations to speak openly about integrating sustainability into its operational framework.”

“At NBB, we are taking great strides to create a sustainable future for the Kingdom and for its people. And as such, we’ve carefully selected the most suitable candidates from diverse backgrounds to create and spearhead the Sustainability Committee, ensuring that activities across different areas of the Bank are being carried forward as per our sustainability objective of stakeholder inclusivity . Our progress remains powered by our stakeholdrs and fueled by our shared passion for business and social success,” she added.

NBB remains committed to investing in the professional development of its employees, in line with its ESG Key pillars, one of which is nurturing its workforce. The bank continues to provide various and countless opportunities to its staff members across different divisions, contributing directly to the development of the Bahraini workforce and society as a whole, as it fully embraces sustainability, integrating it into its operational framework.