Establishing a learning legacy through sustainability

Republic Bank appreciates the importance of improving the fate of all communities in which we operate and creating a legacy of sustainable growth for our stakeholders. To ensure this happens we've identified United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 7 and 13 as the Group's top priorities since signing on to the Principles of Responsible Banking namely: affordable and clean energy and climate action.

This is because we believe that our tangible commitment of lending money in support of these areas will have the most direct and measurable impact. When all of the Group's initiatives are brought together under this single commitment, they will cover everything from ensuring and improving energy security to combating climate change.

In order to achieve our Climate Finance Goal by 2025, we have pledged to lend, invest and arrange US$200 million toward activities that reduce the impacts of climate change and create environmental solutions in collaboration with our clients. For instance, we have increased our commitment to electric and hybrid car loans in our car loan portfolio, as well as loans related to the promotion of clean fuels, renewable energy use and technology, energy efficiency loans, and new construction loans that employ climate resilient technology.

In addition, the Republic Group has committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions in its financing activities over the long term. As I mentioned in our last conversation, we joined the United Nations' "NetZero Banking Alliance" on April 22, 2021, alongside other leading global commercial banks, to demonstrate our commitment to this goal. In support of these commitments, we will seek to meaningfully engage our key stakeholders across the Bank's functional areas to review policies, procedures, systems, and processes to ensure operational and risk tolerance alignment.

As part of this commitment, we also intend to make all our new buildings LEED certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), as well as make our existing buildings more environmentally friendly. In addition, as we move forward with our thrust toward increasing our focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, we intend to take action on gender equality and have pledged to have at least 30% of our governance boards composed of female directors by 2025, with a goal of reaching 50% by then. While the glass ceiling was broken a long time ago, the transition of women into leadership roles has been a slow but steady process. We feel more than ever that now is the time for us to play our part in hastening this transition and setting an example for others to follow.

The initiatives we've mapped out under the PRB umbrella excites us at RFHL as they allow us to truly do what we can in the pursuit of building successful and sustainable societies.