A message from our Chief Executive
Welcome to our third report on our corporate responsibilities. It’s been a year where we have seen dramatic changes of fortune for many of the groups we are involved with; clients, competitors, governments and charities have all felt the impact of unprecedented economic challenges. But we are holding steady, and have stayed focused. Our report this year is a tribute to the people who, by their efforts, have made it possible for us to continue with a strong market position and to be able to give more, not less.
And indeed we have given more. More time has gone into considering the social, ethical and environmental (SEE) aspects of our decisions. We’re building these elements more strongly into our standard risk processes. We’re looking more specifically at the consumer viewpoint when we’re developing our products and buying and behaving with greater environmental awareness as we develop our data centres and offices.
Our central community funds are now largely focused on projects that provide financial education to vulnerable people and that encourage entrepreneurial skills combined with wise financial planning. And all our five regions are now delivering on this focus, taking up more of this central budget, ensuring we continue to give in line with our profits.
Giving money externally to our communities has been balanced by using another element of this central funding to inspire innovation with a strong social or environmental benefit. Last year we supported a project that is exploring how we can help make microfinance more efficient, with a team in Argentina taking the lead, working with the World Bank. This year we have set aside monies to develop products that can have an impact in the workplace. One will help engage employees in managing their own carbon footprint and the other provide more insight to ethnic diversity.
The most dramatic ‘more’ statistic this year though, brings my message back to our people, who have almost doubled their work in the community. As you’ll see in this report, the hours they have devoted to volunteering are helping us achieve some amazing results and we are duly proud of them, both in the workplace and the community.