Shanghai banks get CSR framework

Guidelines have been issued to establish ethical standards for financial institutions in Shanghai. The aim is to guarantee stakeholders’ rights and enhance social and environmental responsibility.

The principles are stated in a set of CSR guidelines for Shanghai’s banking and financial corporations by the city’s division of the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

The guidelines insist that financial institutions should uphold the legal rights of stakeholders, including shareholders, employees and consumers, provide services to the community in convenient ways and improve service quality. This would include telling consumers of risks involved in any financial transactions. The guidelines ask the institutions to educate consumers and to run programmes to increase awareness of financial issues and risks.

The guidelines also say institutions should promote economic and environmental sustainability and draw up environmental principles. They should try to limit consumption, and their lending policies should exclude projects that cause pollution or use vast amounts of energy.