After consulting with stakeholders, the Asia-focused bank said it was stepping up efforts to reduce carbon emissions of the businesses it supports, after barring lending to new standalone, non-captive thermal coal mines in 2016.

"Our decision to stop financing coal power is a first step in a set of more substantive actions to which we are now committing, in order to understand the CO2 emissions our financing supports," Chief Executive Bill Winters said in a statement.

"We intend to work transparently and with other banks, our respective clients and other stakeholders to reduce the impact, over time."

The bank, which has committed to finance $4 billion of clean technology projects by 2020, said it would continue to "honour" 14 project financing arrangements linked to coal-power stations.

(Reporting By Sinead Cruise, editing by Clara Denina)