KUALA LUMPUR: RHB Banking Group, through subsidiary RHB Islamic Bank Bhd, has enhanced its sustainability efforts by empowering the special needs community through its collaboration with Diveheart Malaysia.
The banking group said the initiative was in conjunction with the International Persons with Disability (PWD) Day.
Diveheart Malaysia, part of Diveheart based in Chicago, is a non-profit organisation (NGO) that emphasises helping disabled persons become certified divers through the Professional Association Diving Instructors' (PADI) adaptive diving techniques speciality training.
RHB group managing director and chief executive officer Mohd Rashid Mohamad said the bank was the first banking group in Asia with its own team of employees who were qualified PADI adaptive techniques support divers.
"Through this collaboration, eight of RHB's PADI Advanced Certified Divers that includes our senior management team members, have volunteered to be trained and certified by Diveheart as adaptive buddy support divers.
"This underlines our additional commitment towards championing inclusivity in support of UN SDG 10 'Reduced Inequalities', alongside amplifying our main thrust of UN SDG 14 'Life Below Water' where we continuously emphasize on ocean conservation and preservation.
"In addition to this, we continue to reinforce financial literacy among the younger generation in Pulau Langkawi through a comprehensive ocean-themed Children Financial Literacy Workshop, which combines the importance of marine conservation and financial well-being," he said.
Mohd Rashid said to-date, the bank's ocean-themed financial literacy programmes had benefited close to 2,000 students.
"As a whole, these initiatives are in line with the group's sustainability aspiration under our five-year (2022-2026) Sustainability Strategy and Roadmap to empower two million people across Asean by 2026," he added.
As part of RHB Banking Group's larger sustainability initiative, RHB Islamic has actively promoted marine conservation and environmental sustainability since the inception of RHB Ocean Harmoni in 2019.
The ocean-themed initiatives under Ocean Harmoni include issuing Asia Pacific's first eco-friendly recycled plastic debit cards in partnership with WWF-Malaysia.