Atta Yeboah Gyan
Fidelity Bank Ghana has underscored its commitment to integrating climate adaptation into its core lending strategy, highlighting its role in private capital mobilisation for a climate-resilient future.
Atta Yeboah Gyan, Deputy Managing Director, Operations and Support Functions at Fidelity Bank, shared the bank’s innovative approach during a panel discussion at the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program Partnership Forum at the Alisa Hotel in Accra.
It was held under the theme: “Unlocking growth through climate resilience and private sector leadership.”
“At Fidelity Bank Ghana, we consider climate adaptation a strategic imperative – not only as a risk management issue, but also a value creation opportunity,” Mr. Gyan stated.
He explained the bank’s proactive stance, indicating, “We have identified climate risk as a critical ESG material topic through our double materiality assessment, integrated into our environmental and social governance processes.”
According to him, this commitment is further solidified by a robust Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS), meticulously aligned with IFC Performance Standards and the Bank of Ghana’s Sustainable Banking Principles.
To effectively manage both physical and transition climate risks, Mr. Gyan said, “We recently conducted our first portfolio-level climate scenario analysis across our Retail and Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) segments.”
This comprehensive assessment, which also included an internal analysis of potential climate-related disruptions to the bank’s branches and ATMs, has directly informed the creation of detailed climate risk heat maps, significantly enhancing the bank’s understanding of exposure and reinforcing long-term resilience.
He noted that the bank’s three-year Climate Implementation Plan, aligned with Ghana’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), further solidifies this vision, ensuring that its financing supports national climate adaptation priorities.
Mr. Gyan said Fidelity Bank was intentionally embedding climate risk screening into its credit assessments, with a particular focus on vulnerable sectors such as agriculture, infrastructure, and SMEs.
Beyond internal risk management, Fidelity Bank is actively working to unlock private finance for adaptation and resilience across Ghana, he added.
A Business Desk Report