UBI Banca Has Set a Broader Mission of Corporate Social Responsibility Alongside Its Institutional Profi T Seeking Mission
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Social Report 2007 Social Report 2007 “Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning... We cannot walk alone... We cannot turn back”. It may seem excessive to mark the beginning of a new enterprise’s history by recalling to memory an event of such great importance in history as that of the Martin Luther King’s speech before the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on 28th August 1963 at the end of the civil rights protest march. Nonetheless, we live in a society which seems very often to have lost its values, in a world in which the globalisation of the economy and fi nance - which can no longer be governed by national and supranational institutions - can bring not only great benefi ts, but also new forms of violation of the fundamental rights of human beings and of entire communities. We therefore feel it is important to underline the intention to “give value to values” with which, in taking up the reins of the BPU Banca and Banca Lombarda heritage, UBI Banca has set a broader mission of corporate social responsibility alongside its institutional profi t seeking mission. UBI Banca is a new alliance of banks, which have decided to journey together with commitment and passion to establish a distinctive identity on the market based on a common vision. It draws on values from the past to guide its future in the construction of a sustainable growth, by carefully blending tradition with innovation, stability with dynamism and its local roots with international initiatives. Our banking group today is one of the largest in Italy. Our shares are listed on the stock exchange and are owned by tens of thousands of savers. We give work to more than 20,000 people and to more than 12,000 suppliers. We are present in almost all the regions of Italy at the service of 4 million customers and there are hundreds of organisations in the local communities we operate in who count on our help, along with others, in their projects to improve society. Growth in size goes hand in hand with greater responsibility, which lies in our capacity to have a positive effect on the economic and social development of the local markets we operate in guiding enterprises not only to achieve outstanding fi nancial and economic results for the rightful gain of our members, but also to promote the common good in a broader sense, according to our nature as a “popular” co-operative bank. This is why we have not just constructed an organisational model which allows us to effectively govern the complexity of the Group with careful control over risks, a distribution network to promote the strength of our local brands and specialist service organisations to fully satisfy the needs of all our customers, but we have also paid special attention to our use of ethical policy and control instruments such as our “Charter of Values” and the Global Compact. We have set out the “original” rules in our Charter of Values to guide all the organisational units of the Group at all levels of responsibility in making policy decisions and in everyday personal and group conduct for relationships both within the Group and with the market. They are rules which are applied fi rstly to the general strategic plans and policies of the Group and then to risk, commercial and credit policies. They frame the objectives of effi ciency, productivity, profi tability and quality of the business plan in a perspective of sustainability and one way this is achieved is through constant monitoring of the extent to which those objectives have become an integral part of shared and practiced corporate culture. The desire to consider not only the direct repercussions of activities, in economic, social and environmental terms, in our immediate sphere of infl uence, but also the benefi ts which we ourselves draw from building a company which is more observant of the values of integrity and respect for individuals and for the environment takes concrete form in our adherence to the principles of the Global Compact. This applies not only in our own local communities or even just in our own country, but also wherever we can reasonably expect to control the effects, even indirectly, of our operations. In this context the Social Report does not just give an account of projects, activities and results, but it also bears witness to our commitment to dialogue with all our collaborators and stakeholders in an increasingly more open and transparent manner in order to achieve our objectives together. Gino Trombi Emilio Zanetti Chairman of the Supervisory Board Chairman of the Management Board Social Report 2007 Notes on the method 6 Dialogue with stakeholders 8 Independent Auditors’ Report 10 IDENTITY History 14 The Group today 16 Vision, mission and values 20 The organisational model of the Group 23 The institutional structure and governance 32 STRATEGIES AND PROJECTS The Business Plan 38 The social responsibility plan 40 OPERATING REPORT Value Added 46 SOCIAL REPORT Personnel 50 Members and shareholders 60 Customers 66 Suppliers 80 The community 82 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT Direct environmental impacts 96 ATTACHMENTS GRI indicators 102 Glossary 106 Social Report 2007 NOTES ON THE METHOD The 2007 Corporate Social Responsibility Report - the ABI (Italian Banking Association) in 2006 - Reporting fi rst by UBI Banca - continues the commitment of BPU to Stakeholders. A guide for Banks - the result of co- Banca and Banca Lombarda e Piemontese to reporting to operation between ABI (more specifi cally, its Working stakeholders. Group on Corporate Social Responsibility in which UBI Banca takes an active part), Econometica (inter-university The document, approved by the corporate bodies centre for ethics and corporate social responsibility) and responsible was drawn up in compliance with the a panel of stakeholders who are members of the Forum Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (GRI/G3) issued in for Sustainable Finance (e.g. Sodalitas, WWF, Movimento 2006 by the Global Reporting Initiative. The level at the Consumatori). More specifi cally the accounting which the GRI/G3 guidelines were applied was B+, which is presentation used for the creation and distribution the intermediate level qualifi ed by a + sign because it was of value added is that proposed in the ABI guidelines. verifi ed by an independent entity (the fi rm KPMG S.p.A. The scope of the report, where not otherwise who were also appointed as auditors of the individual specifi ed, is that of the banking group as identifi ed in company and consolidated fi nancial statements). KPMG the accounting policies section of the consolidated analysed the Social Report for compliance with GRI-G3 fi nancial statements, and it is consistent with the guidelines and consistency with corporate accounting guidelines contained in the GRI Boundary Protocol of and non accounting documentation. The choice of the 2005. reporting framework was based on the indications on 6 method contained in the guidelines published by the The structure and contents of the report have been Reporting principles To involve all the stakeholders identifi ed in order to ensure that the reporting processes and content refl ect the viewpoints of Inclusion the different parties involved (including “mute” parties like the environment and future generations). To give reasons for any Assumptions and general exclusions or limitations there may be. objectives To make the logic behind the acquisition and classifi cation of the information and the preparation of the document clear to all intended Transparency recipients of it – legitimate stakeholders – both in terms of the procedures and methods and with regard to the discretion employed. To make the categories of stakeholders to whom the Bank must Responsibility report to on the consequences of its activities identifi able. To provide the fullest possible information on the ownership and governance of the bank, in order to give third parties a clear Scope of the reporting Identifi cation processes and the perception of the relative responsibilities. To communicate the ethical standards of the bank (Mission, Vision, Values and Principles). information contained in the document No area of the bank’s activity must be deliberately and systematically excluded. Reasons must be given for any exclusions or limitations Completeness there may be. All information considered useful for readers in assessing the economic, social and environmental performance must be included. To take account of the actual impact that economic and other Perspective from which events have produced on the reality surrounding them. To include all to view the information information and only that information which stakeholders can use to Signifi cance and relevance acquired and presented in judge the ethical and social performance of the bank in its specifi c the document context and business sector. Any estimates or subjective assessments there may be must be based on explicit and reasonable assumptions. Reporting must be regular, systematic and prompt (by complying with the standards set by the GBS, the periodical corporate social Periodical nature Timing of the reporting reporting of UBI Banca is in line with that of its individual company process and consolidated fi nancial reporting. Social effects must be recognised at the time when they occur and Timing basis not when the fi nancial transactions which originated them occur. adapted to fi t the identity and specifi c requirements of compile comparative socio-environmental pro-forma the UBI Banca Group for reporting to stakeholders. They fi gures in time for the report deadline. are also based on the Global Compact rules for periodical “Communication on Progress” required of participant From a viewpoint of progressively integrating operating, organisations, while the structure is based on the corporate fi nancial, social and environmental reporting, we have social reporting standards drawn up by the Gruppo di Studio tried as much as possible to avoid duplicating information per il Bilancio Sociale (GBS - Study Group for Corporate included in the Individual Company and Consolidated Social Responsibility Reporting).