The HSBC in Bangladesh has facilitated Tk 612 crore in social loan financing for Brac to implement social development projects.

This is the country's second social loan principles (SLP)-based financing, the HSBC said in a statement.

"The path-breaking deal will open up many untrodden avenues of socio-economic development of the country's marginal communities," said Asif Saleh, executive director at Brac.

He spoke at a ceremony in Dhaka on August 1 when an agreement was signed in this regard.

Dubbing the agreement historical, Md Mahbub ur Rahman, CEO of HSBC Bangladesh, said: "We are delighted to be able to extend our support with the social loan financing for Brac."

"This is part of our global sustainability commitment and I would also like to thank Brac, the largest non-governmental development organisation in the world, for partnering with us with an objective to ensure social support in the community."

Accentuating on the importance of environmental sustainability, Kevin Green, HSBC Bangladesh's head of wholesale banking, said: "As part of our global sustainability ambition, we support environmentally and socially sustainable economic activities and businesses."

"This social loan financing for Brac showcases our dedication and capability to support businesses in their ESG journey and reinforces our market leading position in sustainability."

Social loan supports projects/initiatives aimed at mitigating or addressing a specific social issue and/or seeking to achieve positive social outcomes, according to the statement.

These include, but are not limited to, providing and/or promoting affordable basic infrastructure, access to essential services (such as health and healthcare), affordable housing, employment generation through the potential effect of SME financing and microfinance, food security, and socioeconomic advancement and empowerment, it said.

Social loans are operated based on the "Social Loan Principles" (SLP) which was introduced last year (2021).

From HSBC, the signing ceremony was also attended Riaz Ahmed Chowdhury, head of corporate; Mahbub Reza, head of local corporate; Mahmud Hossain, country head of infrastructure and public sector; Jishan Shamsad, sustainable finance lead; and Mashrur Hasan Khan, vice president and relationship manager.

The event was also attended by the senior executives and representatives from BRAC finance team.