Hungarian companies must answer sustainability questions

According to the new recommendation of the Hungarian National Bank (MNB), financial institutions will have to request increasingly detailed ESG (environmental, social and governance) data from corporate clients if they take out loans exceeding HUF 500 million. This means that banks will also evaluate the operations of companies along sustainability aspects. But what exactly will the companies concerned have to answer? K&H will help companies find their way around this.

What does this mean for companies?

ESG data collection by banks means that larger companies will have to provide increasingly detailed information on the sustainability of their activities. Those who prepare in advance and have a clear ESG strategy may have an advantage when applying for a loan, but it is important to note that the series of questions to be introduced is designed for the purpose of data collection, this does not mean that the applicant will be denied a loan.

“The aim of the mandatory administrative data collection to be implemented from July is to integrate sustainability aspects into the lending process, into the rating process that develops over the years. It is better to prepare for this in good time, because there will be questions for which companies have data, but in an unstructured form, and it will take time to extract it from the company’s systems. Or they are sensitive, but there may be questions that they do not know the answer to: the extent of the company’s carbon dioxide emissions could be one of these. The questionnaire was created for data collection purposes, there are no wrong answers, for now it is an administrative task for companies,”

emphasized Levente Suba, K&H’s sustainability manager.