Local Impact. Global Momentum. 2011 Corporate Social Responsibility Report Table of Contents
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Local impact. Global momentum. 2011 CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY REPORT Table of Contents 1 Welcome ........................................................................3 Letter from Brian Moynihan Letter from Anne Finucane Corporate Social Responsibility at Bank of America 2 Global Profle ..................................................................6 3 Our Global Workforce ....................................................13 4 Responsible Business Practices ....................................21 5 Strong Economies ........................................................33 6 Environmental Sustainability .........................................53 7 Leadership & Service ....................................................75 8 Arts & Culture ..............................................................83 9 Diversity & Inclusion .....................................................91 10 Global Awards and Recognition .....................................97 11 Global Reporting Initiative Disclosures ........................101 12 About This Report ......................................................115 13 Contacts and General Information ...............................121 Cover images Last year, our employees volunteered over Our funding supports energy-effcient programs 1.5 million hours at nonprofts and community like Dumont Green in NYC, as part of our 10-year, organizations like Free Arts NYC. $50 billion environmental business initiative. We lend and invest in small businesses Strong leaders are vital to healthy communities, that are the backbone of our economy, like and we’re committed to supporting them with Pizza Port in San Diego. initiatives like the Global Ambassadors Program. 2 Welcome “We connect the people and businesses we serve with the products, tools and resources they need to accomplish their goals, drive economic growth and make communities and the world better.” To our customers, shareholders, neighbors and teammates: Our I am pleased to share Bank of America’s 2011 Corporate Social Responsibility Bank of America employees around the (CSR) Report. Our work in CSR fows from the values of our company and world share a common set of values that demonstrates leadership, helps attract and retain top talent, and enables us guide our work — both what we do and to deliver the fnancial services and products our customers want. how we do it — every day. •Deliverforourcustomers,clients Acting responsibly is critical to our business. We expect to achieve our and shareholders business goals while helping to address both local and global challenges. Since •Trustinourteam 2010, we have sharpened the focus of our company to better serve customers •Embracethepowerofourpeople and clients and strengthened the foundation of the company with record capital •Actresponsibly and liquidity. In doing so, we are achieving business results that create value •Promoteopportunity for our shareholders, customers, clients and the communities we serve. On a wide range of issues from the environment to community stabilization to lending and investing, I’m proud of the record we’ve built and hope this report will provide you with insight into the progress made and results achieved over the past year. Sincerely, Brian T. Moynihan Chief Executive Offcer Stakeholders: Thank you for your interest in Bank of America and our We are focused on strengthening and simplifying our business. 2011 Corporate Social Responsibility report. We have made signifcant changes in our policies and practices — our position on overdrafts, our clarity commitment and our The world, the fnancial sector, and our business continued loan modifcation programs to name a few. And we are moving to face unprecedented challenges through 2011 and so we forward with energy and optimism. This is how we will grow asked ourselves: “What is it that we can do? How can we do and, as importantly, restore confdence in our company. better — better by our customers, better by our communities, better by our shareholders, and better by our employees?” As you will read in this report, we spent 2011 working toward this commitment. We have made signifcant progress, but I speak on behalf of the full management team in sharing much still needs to be done. We believe that Bank of America Bank of America’s commitment to doing better. We can and has the right strategy, plan and talent in place to responsibly will do better by building on and refning our current efforts; meet these and other challenges ahead. And I know we have deepening our connections with customers, clients and the commitment. communities by listening, collaborating, helping and responding to their needs; and by continuing to connect Sincerely, them to the right fnancial solutions, expertise and resources. Being a responsible company means making a positive Anne Finucane impact on society at large, demonstrating our value to each Global Strategy and Marketing Offcer and every stakeholder, while holding ourselves accountable. “ We can and will do better by deepening our connections with customers, clients and communities, and by listening, collaborating, helping and responding to their needs.” Corporate Social Responsibility at Bank of America “Promoting strong and vibrant communities, economies and markets has always been part of our mission. It is critical to the success of our business and the success of everyone we serve. By pursuing this mission responsibly, we can better meet the needs of our customers and clients; attract and retain diverse talent; position our bank for sustainable growth; and deliver value. All this must be based on sound policies and practices that strengthen trust among customers, clients, communities and investors, as well as ensure the stability of our business.” — Andrew Plepler, Global Corporate Social Responsibility and Consumer Policy Executive Stakeholders increasingly expect companies to have a Our stakeholders identifed a number of issues of materiality robust and transparent approach to CSR. While our values for this report. Many fall within our focus on Responsible remain at the core of everything we do, in 2011 we evolved Business Practices, Strong Economies and Environmental our perspective on CSR. As part of this evolution, we have Sustainability. Our impact is expanded and strengthened by been guided by the idea of “shared value,” a belief that we programs and outreach efforts in Leadership & Service, Arts can fnd business opportunities while addressing social, & Culture and Diversity & Inclusion, through which we can economic and environmental priorities of society at large. engage more broadly with our stakeholders around the world, supporting their interests and priorities. Our work in each With this in mind, in 2011 we revised our defnition of CSR area has been ongoing for many years, but this evolved and how we operationalize it. We have six CSR focus areas: structure will help us better organize ourselves, identify new Responsible Business Practices; Strong Economies; opportunities, track progress and be more accountable and Environmental Sustainability; Leadership & Service; Arts & responsive to stakeholders. Culture; and Diversity & Inclusion. These areas are defned on the next two pages and throughout this report. Welcome 5 Corporate Social Responsibility Focus Areas We put our values into practice every day as we continuously work to integrate CSR into our daily operations, focusing where we can have the greatest impact. We rigorously review our business Vibrant economies are the backbone We are working to fnance the practices and policies, including our of strong communities. By partnering transition to a lower-carbon future — risk and compliance frameworks, with large and small organizations managing our own efforts and helping to ensure that we meet our through lending, investing and giving, customers and communities navigate responsibility to our employees, we help fuel economic growth. In toward an economy built on more customers, clients and addition, we focus our charitable sustainable business practices. shareholders. giving on addressing critical needs such as housing, hunger and jobs. 6 Welcome We have a long-standing commitment We are committed to a diverse We value our differences — in to global leadership development of program of cultural support — thought, style, culture, ethnicity and individuals and organizations that enriching society, helping arts experience — understanding that advance economies and society. Our organizations thrive and promoting diversity and inclusion are good employees worldwide play a critical cultural understanding through for business and allow our company role in contributing to communities the arts. to better serve our employees, through volunteer service. customers, clients and shareholders. Welcome 7 Our Reporting Priorities Our objective for this 2011 CSR report is to address the Process for Analyzing Materiality issues most important to our stakeholders. Based on In 2011, we went through a four-step feedback received from external and internal stakeholders process to identify and prioritize material on our 2010 CSR report, our senior leadership agreed that issues that included: our 2011 materiality assessment process should be both 1. Developed a common standard of more formal and more inclusive this year. materiality for Bank of America with respect to CSR activities For clarity, we have structured this report around our six CSR focus areas. 2. Analyzed external media and analyst Within these six areas, the materiality