On September 11, financial news reports that international authoritative index institution MSCI Inc recently released the latest Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rating results for China Citic Bank Corporation Limited (601998.SH, 00998.HK) for 2025. The rating was upgraded by two levels from "A" to the global best level "AAA". This marks the second consecutive year of improvement for CITIC Bank's MSCI ESG rating, following the upgrade from "BBB" to "A" in 2024, placing it at a leader level among global peers.
Image description: Screenshot of CITIC Bank's ESG rating from MSCI's official app
MSCI Inc is a globally leading financial index and ESG rating agency that conducts annual analysis and rating of ESG practices for over 7,000 listed companies worldwide. Its ESG rating system is widely recognized by global investment institutions, and the rating results serve as important references for global investment data analysis and investment decision-making. The MSCI rating report shows that over the past year, CITIC Bank has demonstrated significant improvements in material issues including consumer rights protection, privacy and data security, human capital development, financial services accessibility, corporate behavior, and corporate governance. This rating upgrade reflects the high recognition of CITIC Bank's ESG management level and comprehensive performance by international authoritative institutions, and further demonstrates the capital market's full affirmation of CITIC Bank's sustainable development value.
In recent years, CITIC Bank has deeply grasped the challenges of the times, actively responded to the national "dual carbon" strategy, thoroughly implemented new development concepts, and adhered to the principles of "stability, balance, and sustainability". The bank is committed to internalizing sustainable development concepts into the strategic DNA of corporate development, with the development vision of comprehensively building a "four-have" bank with "responsibility, value, characteristics, and warmth" and entering the forefront of world-class bank competition. It has constructed a forward-looking, systematic, and practical sustainable development framework, exploring a financial sustainable development path that combines Chinese characteristics with global vision, striving to achieve unity between social value and economic value, and balance between functionality and profitability, contributing CITIC wisdom and strength to high-quality financial development.
Moving forward, CITIC Bank will continue to practice the political and people-oriented nature of financial work, steadily promote the integration of ESG concepts into daily business management from all aspects and multiple angles, focus on building an ESG management system with CITIC Bank characteristics, actively enhance its value creation capability and sustainable development capability, provide high-quality answers to the financial "five major articles", unwaveringly follow the path of financial development with Chinese characteristics, and create greater value for shareholders, society, and all stakeholders.