DBS Bank

Red Line	Text of policies	Comments	Score
Regulatory requirements
Ensure Legality	DBS Bank Our Approach to Responsible Financing: We seek alignment, where possible, with international standards and best practices such as the IFC Performance Standards and World Bank Environmental, Health and Safety Guidelines.	The policy references international standards, but it is not mandatory for clients to follow these.	partly
No Corruption and Tax Evasion		No publicly available policies or documentation were found that cover this criteria.	not
Ensure ESIA for mills and plantations	Agricultural commodities ex. Palm Oil We will not knowingly finance activities or projects we know to be in deliberate violation of local or national laws, or operations which: • Involve significant expansion or greenfield development without conducting an environmental and social impact assessment;	The policy requires and ESIA for large projects, but not necessarily the forestry/plantation operations	partly
Social requirements
Ensure FPIC	Agricultural commodities ex. Palm Oil We will not knowingly finance activities or projects we know to be in deliberate violation of local or national laws, or operations which: • Fail to secure both the legal right and community support to use all the land involved. Consent can be achieved through the FPIC process; ESG-related Prohibited Transactions Consistent with the Bank’s credit risk policy, DBS will not knowingly finance the following activities: • Forced labour or child labour and human rights abuses; • Violation of rights of local communities or those that take place in locations of significant social conflicts;	The policy does not allow finance for projects without FPIC.	well
Respect Human Rights	ESG-related Prohibited Transactions Consistent with the Bank’s credit risk policy, DBS will not knowingly finance the following activities: • Forced labour or child labour and human rights abuses; • Violation of rights of local communities or those that take place in locations of significant social conflicts; Agricultural commodities ex. Palm Oil We will not knowingly finance activities or projects we know to be in deliberate violation of local or national laws, or operations which: • Fail to secure both the legal right and community support to use all the land involved. Consent can be achieved through the FPIC process;	The policy does not allow finance for activities that violate human rights.	well
Respect Indigenous rights and customary land use rights	Agricultural commodities ex. Palm Oil We will not knowingly finance activities or projects we know to be in deliberate violation of local or national laws, or operations which: • Fail to secure both the legal right and community support to use all the land involved. Consent can be achieved through the FPIC process;	The policy does not allow finance for projects that do not have community support.	well
No forced resettlement	Agricultural commodities ex. Palm Oil We will not knowingly finance activities or projects we know to be in deliberate violation of local or national laws, or operations which: • Fail to secure both the legal right and community support to use all the land involved. Consent can be achieved through the FPIC process;	The policy does not allow finance for projects that do not have community support.	well
Environmental Requirements
No forest degradation and deforestation	ESG-related Prohibited Transactions Consistent with the Bank’s credit risk policy, DBS will not knowingly finance the following activities: • Illegal logging; Agricultural commodities ex. Palm Oil We will not knowingly finance activities or projects we know to be in deliberate violation of local or national laws, or operations which: • Adversely affect UNESCO World Heritage Sites or national and/or international protected areas; or • Convert HCV or HCS forests for development.	The policy provides protection against the conversion of HCV and HCS forests, but does not protect against the degradation of forests nor the conversion of natural forests to plantations.	partly
Protect endangered species	ESG-related Prohibited Transactions Consistent with the Bank’s credit risk policy, DBS will not knowingly finance the following activities: • Trading (wholesale or retail) in wildlife or wildlife products in violation of CITES2.	The policy protects against trading in CITES species, but does not reference the IUCN red list species, nor does it provide protection for endangered species existing in an area.	partly
No high-risk species		No publicly available policies or documentation were found that cover this criteria.	not
No fire	ESG-related Prohibited Transactions Consistent with the Bank’s credit risk policy, DBS will not knowingly finance the following activities: • Land clearance by burning; Agricultural commodities ex. Palm Oil We will not knowingly finance activities or projects we know to be in deliberate violation of local or national laws, or operations which: • Use fire for land clearing;	The policy does not allow the use of fire to clear land.	well
Protect peat	Agricultural commodities ex. Palm Oil We will not knowingly finance activities or projects we know to be in deliberate violation of local or national laws, or operations which: • Convert HCV or HCS forests for development.	The policy prohibts direct conversion of peat lands, but does not prohibit finance for existing plantations on peat and is not clear on the extend to which this applies to suppliers.	partly
No persistent pollution		No publicly available policies or documentation were found that cover this criteria.	not
Corporate association / scope of the policy
Corporate association / scope of the policy		No publicly available policies or documentation were found that cover this criteria.	not

Latest News

Get Involved