Taishin FHC actively follows the trends of sustainable development both in Taiwan and overseas, and sets “Dedicated to Sustainability & Living Green” as the vision. With the three core tenets of “Climate Action,” “Financial Inclusion,” and “Sustainability Empowerment,” the company continues to promote the sustainability of its core financial business and leads all industries to pursue climate protection. Taishin’s sustainability performance in 2023 continued to be outstanding. The company was included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and the Dow Jones Sustainability Emerging Markets Index for the sixth consecutive year. In S&P Global’s 2024 Sustainability Yearbook, Taishin was recognized as one of the global benchmark companies and ranked in the top 1% of the global banking sector. This makes Taishin the only financial institution in Taiwan’s banking sector to have achieved such an impressive feat.
Climate Action: Calling on Industry and Commerce to Undertake Low-Carbon Transformation and Strive for Net-Zero Emissions by 2050
The 2024 Global Risk Report by World Economic Forum (WEF) identifies extreme weather events as one of the biggest risks facing the world in both short term and long term. Taishin FHC has included climate risks in its “Risk Management Policy” and conducts an annual identification of key climate-related risks and opportunities as well as an analysis of climate risk scenarios. The company also links its climate strategy to the results of the analysis and sets corresponding indicators. These include carbon emissions from the investment and financing part of the financial business, exposure to carbon-intensive industries, and the effectiveness of promoting a low-carbon economy. Taishin’s own activities, including energy conservation and carbon reduction measures, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions, are also taken into account.
In 2023, Taishin FHC’s board of directors adopted an integrated sustainable finance policy to actively manage environmental, social, and governance-related risks. This policy has also been integrated into the company’s trading decisions, promoting the development of sustainable finance. Specifically, Taishin has set a science-based target, approved by the Science Based Targets initiative, to achieve net-zero emissions from its own operations by 2030 and net-zero emissions from its investment and financing business by 2050. At the same time, Taishin is actively committed to reducing scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, including the gradual reduction of its own operational carbon footprint. In addition, Taishin participates in and supports the development of the green finance industry and the renewable energy industry through investment, financing, and other financial services. Taishin is not only the first bank in Taiwan to exclusively finance renewable energy power plants, but will also completely stop financing the coal industry by 2030 and the unconventional oil and gas industry by 2040, fulfilling its commitment to decarbonize its investment and financing. Taishin also participated in the first batch of carbon trading on the Taiwan Carbon Solution Exchange to realize carbon neutrality, expand the adoption of carbon rights, and contribute to the soundness of Taiwan’s carbon trading mechanism.
Recognizing that energy transformation is the key to net zero and that it can only be achieved through public-private partnerships, Taishin actively demonstrated its impact on sustainability in 2023 by mobilizing the industrial and commercial sectors to jointly address the issue of net-zero energy. Together with the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce, Taishin organized the “2023 Taishin Net Zero Summit,” inviting energy industry players and experts from Taiwan and Japan to share cross-national experiences on the challenges of energy transformation and renewable energy development. Taishin hopes to build consensus in the industry, accelerate technological breakthroughs and their practical application, and provide solutions for net-zero emissions in 2050.
Financial Inclusion: Promoting Sustainable Financial Ecosystem by Focusing on Fintech and Financial Inclusion
In order to create an innovative financial ecosystem and realize financial inclusion, all Taishin subsidiaries strive to develop more pervasive and convenient financial products and services to expand financial inclusion and improve the financial ecosystem. In terms of empowerment, the company supports the growth and de velopment of local venture teams by providing them with consulting services related to IPOs. In the area of corporate finance, through the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ “Low-Carbon and Smart Transformation Assis tance Loan” program, Taishin helps SMEs to quickly raise funds for net zero transitions.
In addition, Taishin continues to focus on fintech and financial inclusion. To meet the demand for financial services resulting from the increasing number of foreign nationals coming to Taiwan due to Taiwan’s growing international visibility in recent years, the company has taken a pioneering role in the industry and now enables the opening of digital deposit accounts in both New Taiwan dollars and foreign currencies for a variety of groups. In response to the problems of an aging society and declining birth rates, and in line with the Financial Supervisory Commission’s Trust 2.0 – “The Promotion Plan for Full Functions of Trust Services,” Taishin has invested resources and increased promotional efforts to improve the public’s understanding of trust services and their operational structure. The company aims to support social welfare organizations to meet the needs of the elderly, mentally and physically challenged, and disadvantaged groups.
Sustainability Empowerment: Fostering Innovative and Sustainable Thinking among Employees and Supporting Diverse Social Participation Programs
Taishin attaches great importance to sustainable empowerment and is committed to embedding the values of sustainability in the DNA of its employees and realizing its vision of sustainable finance and ecosystem development. In promoting talent and employee care, Taishin adheres to employee diversity, equality, and training and growth. The company encourages all employees to participate in professional training on sustainable finance and climate issues to equip them with a sustainable mindset so that they can provide customers with diversified and innovative financial products and services.
Taishin has consistently promoted various social participation programs and exerted its social influence in the areas of social welfare, arts and culture promotion, sports promotion, academic exchange, and other philanthropic endeavors. As part of its support for the development of sports industry in Taiwan, Taishin invests resources in sponsoring tournaments and training athletes every year and has been honored with the Sports Activist Award from the Ministry of Education year after year. To further expand the company’s support for major sporting events, the Taipei Taishin Mars basketball team was established and named a partner team of Taipei City by the Taipei City Government in 2023. The home venue of the team is also located in Taipei.
Taishin will continue to uphold the core principles of integrity, commitment, innovation, and cooperation, deepen its core financial business, and work with its employees, customers, suppliers, strategic partners, and other stakeholders to proactively respond to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and related social and environmental issues. Taishin strives to become a partner with the knowledge of sustainability for its customers and the public and move toward a better and more sustainable future.
Chairman of Taishin FHC
