BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Eventin//Event Calendar//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT UID:d5cb78fb489d140bb934bf0baad4ba05@icaap.coop SUMMARY:Webinar: Cooperative Finance for Green Transition DESCRIPTION: \nLending\, Products\, and Institutional Readiness\nA three-p art webinar series\nBackground\nThe ICA-AP Committee on Credit and Banking (ICCB) serves as the regional platform for cooperative banks\, credit union s\, savings and credit cooperatives\, and apex federations to exchange prac tice\, build capacity\, and shape a common voice on cooperative financial s ervices.\nRecent work of the Committee has converged on the practical conce rns of member institutions: digital transformation\, governance reform\, me mber-focused services\, and operational resilience. Climate-aligned and gre en finance is the next natural theme\, and one that connects directly to al most every cooperative bank's existing portfolio\, through agriculture\, MS MEs\, housing\, transport\, and rural livelihoods.\nGlobally\, central bank s\, regulators\, and refinance institutions are moving rapidly toward green finance frameworks. Cooperative banks in the Asia-Pacific cannot afford to be late entrants. At the same time\, frameworks designed for large commerc ial banks rarely fit cooperative realities. Member institutions need approa ches grounded in the lives of small farmers\, micro-enterprises\, women-led collectives\, and local communities: the constituencies that cooperative b anking exists to serve.\nRationale\nThree observations shape the design of this series\, and are particularly evident in the first session on agricult ural and rural finance.\nExisting lending is already climate relevant\, but rarely structured as such\nMuch of what cooperative banks already finance\ , including irrigation\, dairy\, fisheries\, small enterprises\, and rural housing\, is directly climate relevant. It is rarely framed\, priced\, or r eported as green finance. Reframing existing activity through a climate res ilience lens unlocks access to refinance lines\, partial guarantees\, and t echnical assistance increasingly available from national development banks and multilateral institutions\, without asking cooperative banks to enter u nfamiliar territory.\nMembers are beginning to ask for new products\nSolar pumps\, rooftop solar\, electric two and three wheelers\, energy efficient housing\, and equipment for waste and recycling enterprises are entering th e demand pipeline of cooperative bank members across the region. Cooperativ e banks that move early will deepen member relationships and capture the ne xt decade of household and small enterprise borrowing.\nClimate exposure is a real portfolio risk that boards must govern\nClimate stress\, whether dr ought\, flood\, heat\, or shifting cropping patterns\, is no longer a long- term abstraction. It is showing up in agriculture loan books today. Boards and senior management need a working understanding of how to govern this ri sk\, without importing the heavy ESG reporting machinery designed for liste d companies. A right-sized approach is both possible and overdue.\n \n\n\n \n\nSession\n\n\nTopic\n\n\nMonth\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1\n\n\nFinancing Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods\n\n\n21st July \n\n\n\n\n2\n\n\nDesigni ng Green Loan Products for Members\n\n\nMid-August\n\n\n\n\n3\n\n\nInstitut ional Readiness: Risk\, Governance\, and Capacity\n\n\nMid-October\n\n\n\n\ nObjective of Webinar\nTo equip cooperative banks\, credit unions\, and sav ings and credit cooperatives in the Asia Pacific with practical\, implement able approaches to green and climate resilient finance\, across three layer s:\n\nSector lending\, making existing agriculture and rural finance climat e smart\nNew products\, designing and delivering green loan products that m embers demand\nInstitutional readiness\, including governance\, risk\, capa city\, and reporting to support this work credibly\n\nThe series consciousl y prioritises peer learning\, concrete examples\, and walk away tools over conceptual or regulatory discourse.\nTarget Audience\n\nChief Executive Off icers\, General Managers\, and senior credit officers of cooperative banks\ nBoard members and directors with oversight of credit\, risk\, or audit\nHe ads of business verticals such as agriculture\, MSME\, housing\, and retail \nOfficers of federations and apex bodies responsible for member capacity b uilding\nBranch managers and field officers\nRegulators\, refinance institu tions\, and policy bodies engaged with the cooperative sector\nResearchers\ n\n \nIndicative reach: 60 to 70 participants\, drawn from cooperative ins titutions across 15 to 20 countries.\n \nSession 1 : Financing Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods\nFocus and Themes\nMost cooperative bank s in the region already lend to agriculture\, dairy\, fisheries\, and rural MSMEs. This session does not ask them to start something new. It reframes existing practice through a climate-resilience lens\, surfacing what change s in product structure\, appraisal\, and portfolio management make this len ding more durable for both the institution and the member.\nThemes covered: \n\nLending for drip and micro-irrigation and water-saving on-farm technolo gies\nSolar pump and farm mechanisation finance\, including subsidy-linked product structures\nAdjustments to credit appraisal for climate-exposed cro ps\, regions\, and seasons\nGroup lending and federation models: producer o rganisations\, dairy unions\, fisheries cooperatives\nPortfolio quality and managing loan stress in climate-affected seasons\nBundling extension suppo rt\, crop insurance\, and credit\n\n \nParticipants leave with adapted loa n product structures they can apply and a set of revised appraisal question s to add to existing agricultural loan documentation.\nIndicative Agenda\nF or Session 1\, two anchor practitioners will present\, one from a cooperati ve banking perspective and one from a refinance and policy perspective. The session is extended to 75 minutes to accommodate both presentations in ful l.\n\n\n\n\nTime\n\n\nAgenda item\n\n\nLead\n\n\n\n\n\n\n5 min\n\n\nWelcome remarks\n\n\nMr K K Ravindran\, Chairperson\, ICCB\n\n\n\n\n5 min\n\n\nCon text setting: why green agricultural finance matters for cooperatives\n\n\n Mr Bhima Subrahmanyam\, President\, ICBA\n\n\n\n\n20 min\n\n\nAnchor presen tation 1: cooperative banking experience in sustainable agriculture and rur al finance\n\n\nDr Justin Bomda\, Managing Director and CEO\, MUFID Union\, Cameroon\n\n\n\n\n20 min\n\n\nAnchor presentation 2: refinance and policy perspective on green and rural finance\n\n\nTBC\, NABARD\n\n\n\n\n15 min\n\ n\nFacilitated Q and A and peer experience sharing\n\n\nOpen\n\n\n\n\n5 min \n\n\nComments and reflections\n\n\nMr Balu Iyer\, Regional Director\, ICA- AP\n\n\n\n\n5 min\n\n\nSummary and vote of thanks\n\n\nMr Naveen Kumar Sing h\, Secretary\, ICCB\n\n\n\n\n \nSession Format\nThe webinar runs for 60 m inutes in a consistent format:\n\nOne anchor practitioner per session. A co operative banker or federation officer who has actually done this work\, pr esenting for 25 minutes with concrete numbers\, product structures\, and le ssons learned.\nBrief context-setting by the Committee. Five minutes to fra me why this session matters now.\nFacilitated Q and A. Fifteen minutes stru ctured to surface peer experience from across the region\, not only questio ns to the speaker.\nReflections from the Regional Director. A short closing reflection connecting the session to the broader committee work plan and r egional priority.\nThe session will be recorded and made available on ICA-A P channels for members who could not attend live.\n\nExpected Outcomes\n\nP articipants gain a working understanding of how to reframe existing agricul tural lending through a climate resilience lens\nEach participating institu tion identifies at least one lending product or appraisal practice it can r eview or adapt after the session\nInputs from participant discussion are us ed to refine the focus of Session 2 (Designing Green Loan Products for Memb ers)\n\nSpeakers\n\n\n\n\n\nDr. Justin Bomda (Cameroon) holds an Engineerin g Degree in Agricultural Economics (University of Dschang\, 1985)\, a Maste r’s in Economic Development and Planning (IDEP- Senegal\, 1988)\, and a P h.D. in Agricultural Economics with a Finance major (University of Hohenhei m-Germany\, 1998). He began his career as a Studies Engineer at Cameroon’ s Ministry of Agriculture and has consulted for the World Bank\, FAO\, IFAD \, EU\, KfW\, GIZ\, and private banks. He served as Executive Director of A DAF (1999–2018) and has been Managing Director/CEO of MUFID UNION since 2 019\, leading a cooperative network serving over one\nmillion people throug h 122 branches across Cameroon. He sits on the ICBA Board\, lectures in fin ance and banking at the Catholic University of Central Africa\, and special izes in inclusive and agricultural finance\, cooperative development\, and management. Bilingual in French and English.\n\n\n\n\n\n \nBhima Subrahman yam has been associated with ICBA of ICA since October 2019 in his capacity as its elected President. He is also associated with National Federation o f State Cooperative Banks (NAFSCOB)\, since 1982 but as CEO/Managing Direct or of NAFSCOB since 1990. Prior to NAFSCOB\, Bhima has been associated with IIM\, Ahmedabad\, Space Applications Centre of ISRO and NIRD in India. He has over 50 years of experience in the areas of Rural communication\, Rural Development\, Agricultural Credit\, Cooperatives\, Banking etc. He is auth or of more than 100 Articles\, Research Papers\, Occasional papers etc. in the above areas which include Rural savings mobilisation. He has been instr umental in formulating Risk Management Policy\, AML\, Information Technolog y Security Policy\, Human Resource policy for banks\, Fraud Monitoring\, Cy ber Security guidelines\, Regulation and Sustainability of Cooperative Bank s\, impact of Prudential norms on cooperative banks\, Governance Practices\ , Operational Manuals for Cooperative Banks etc. He has been closely associ ated with many international organizations. The membership of ICBA during h is tenure went up to 58 institutions from 39 countries. An International Sy mposium on CFIs has been organised at UN\, New York under his presidentship in May 2026.\n\n\n\n\n \nRegister Here\n  LOCATION:Online DTSTAMP:20260717T053606Z DTSTART:20260721T060000Z DTEND:20260721T073000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR