Haitong International's MSCI ESG Rating Upgraded to 'A' Ranking at the Highest Among All Chinese IBs

HONG KONG, March 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Haitong International Securities Group Limited ("Haitong International"; 665.HK) is pleased to announce that MSCI Inc., the world's largest index company, has upgraded Haitong International's ESG rating from 'BBB' to 'A' for its outstanding performance in driving sustainable financing and overall ESG strategies implementation. This is also the highest rating record for Chinese IBs ever, and is of a leading position among global investment banks and security houses.

In the rating report published by MSCI, it stated that the rating upgrade can be attributed to: (i) Haitong International's methodology enhancements to the Financing Environmental Impact Key Issue resulted in a lower exposure to highly environmentally intensive industries, and (ii) The Company's overall governance practices remain stronger than those of industry peers. Haitong International has set up the ESG Committee and ESG Executive Office under the Group's Executive Committee, which are responsible for managing the Group's ESG initiatives and strategies implementation and reducing long-term ESG risk exposure.

In September 2020, Haitong International has joined the "China-U.K. Climate and Environmental Information Disclosure Pilot Working Group" and became the first Chinese IB participant of the initiative. The initiative was jointly launched by China Society for Finance and Banking ("the China Green Finance Committee") and City of London's Green Finance Initiative to strengthen green finance cooperation and encourage financial institutions of the two countries to jointly pilot climate and environmental information disclosure. Haitong International actively interacts with the members of the working group and supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and The Paris Agreement.

In 2020, Haitong International has underwritten a total of 11 Green Bond and 1 Blue Bond (Marine-related bond) issuances. According to Bloomberg's data, Haitong International ranked No.1 among all Chinese underwriters in terms of number of issues on the Global Green Bonds Issuance -- Corporate & Government League Table. As of today, Haitong International has completed 8 Green Bond issuances in 2021, continuing its leading position in the market.

In the secondary market, Haitong International Asset Management launched its "Haitong MSCI China A ESG ETF" in 2020, the first broad-based ESG ETF listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and also currently the only ETF on the Hong Kong market offering broad ESG investment exposure on China A shares. The introduction of this ETF enriched the offerings of ETF products in Hong Kong market by filling in an existing product gap.

With strong execution capability and innovation in the ESG area, Haitong International has recently been named "Best ESG Manager (Hong Kong)" by Insights & Mandate Professional Investment Awards 2021, with which the "Haitong MSCI China A ESG ETF" has also received "Most Innovative Product: ETF (Hong Kong)" recognition from the awards. Prior to that, this ETF has already won the "New Product of the Year" title from the 2020 HKCAMA-Bloomberg Offshore China Fund Awards.

Haitong International published its first ESG Statement in 2020, and became the first Hong Kong financial institution which publicized a carbon neutrality commitment. In the future, Haitong International will strive to continue instilling ESG philosophy in the various areas where the company operates and implement Impact Investment by leveraging on its unique capital intermediary role of investment, financing, consultancy and research. Haitong International is poised to become an industry leader in sustainable finance and contributes its own effort to build Hong Kong as a global ESG investment hub in Asia.

For more information, please visit https://htisec.com/en-us/press-release

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