The Kyoto Shinkin Bank
Kyoto Shinkin Bank was the first financial institution in Japan to introduce the concept of a “community bank” in 1971. Our goal under the SDGs is to create a prosperous society by promoting financial inclusion for local small, medium and micro enterprises and start-up businesses, and we aim to create sustainable, socially-minded communities. To this end, we have established the Social and Sustainable business standard in collaboration with the Yunus Social Business Research Center to foster and support businesses that go beyond the financial realm and work to solve a wide range of social issues. By providing engagement and support to local businesses through the certification, and by incorporating the impact of micro, small and medium-sized businesses on the local community into our lending decisions, we will work to ensure that 80% of our clients are ESG-conscious businesses within 10 years.