Third Consecutive ESG honour highlights Prime bank's sustainability push
When Euromoney awarded Prime Bank PLC the Best Bank for ESG 2025 in Bangladesh for the third consecutive year, the recognition was not merely ceremonial. It reflected a documented and measurable commitment to sustainable banking that is increasingly shaping how capital flows in the country.
That commitment now runs alongside Prime Bank's record profit of Tk910 crore in FY2025, making the bank one of the rare institutions globally to demonstrate high-growth financial performance and leading ESG credentials simultaneously.
Green finance: From marginal to mainstream
The most telling metric in Prime Bank's sustainability story is its green financing trajectory. In 2025, the bank's green financing disbursement stood at Tk810.46 crore, accounting for 27% of total term loan disbursements.
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It reflects a deliberate reallocation of credit towards energy-efficient industries, environment-friendly establishments and environmentally compliant manufacturing – sectors that Bangladesh Bank has identified as critical to the country's long-term economic resilience.
For clients in these sectors, Prime Bank's green finance infrastructure means access to concessional refinancing lines, Bangladesh Bank green fund facilities and structured products that conventional banks with lower sustainability ratings cannot offer.
Bangladesh Bank Sustainability Rating 2024
Prime Bank received the Sustainability Rating 2024 award directly from Bangladesh Bank – the central bank's mechanism for formally ranking financial institutions on their green and sustainable banking compliance.
The award recognises Prime Bank's performance across green refinancing utilisation, core banking sustainability operations and corporate social responsibility frameworks.
Central bank-issued ratings of this nature carry regulatory weight. They signal not only reputational standing but also preferential access to central bank facilities, refinancing windows and priority sector mandates – advantages that translate into cost of funds and business pipeline.
Euromoney: Three consecutive years
Euromoney's Awards for Excellence are among the most credible in global banking, involving independent assessments of banks' financial performance, governance quality, digital capability and ESG practices.
Earning the Bangladesh Best Bank for ESG designation once is notable. Earning it three times consecutively signals that Prime Bank's ESG performance is not cyclical – it is embedded.
Why ESG is now a customer issue, not just a regulatory one
Bangladesh's large and growing middle class, alongside an expanding corporate sector increasingly subject to global ESG supply chain requirements, is shifting its banking preferences.
Multinational buyers, export-oriented industries and impact-focused investors now actively evaluate the ESG credentials of the banks their supply chain partners use.
Prime Bank's ESG standing makes it a natural banking partner for this segment. A manufacturer exporting to European markets under the EU's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, for example, benefits operationally from banking with an institution whose ESG standing can be cited in compliance documentation.
Profit and purpose: Not a trade-off
Prime Bank's FY2025 result – Tk910 crore in profit, 24% growth and a 30% dividend – came in the same year as its third consecutive Euromoney ESG award.
For those who still regard ESG as opposed to profitability, Prime Bank's 2025 performance offers an empirical counter-argument.
The bank has demonstrated that a sustainability-led model, when executed with discipline and strategic intent, can generate superior risk-adjusted returns. Green portfolios attract quality borrowers. Governance rigour reduces credit losses. Digital efficiency reduces operating costs. Compliance strength reduces regulatory friction.
Together, they produce Tk910 crore.
