Case study: How Banco General works with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices
Banco General was established in 1955 as Panama’s first private bank. Today, Banco General, S.A. and its subsidiaries provide a comprehensive range of financial products and services, including consumer, corporate, and private banking, as well as securities, trust and investment banking, insurance, and pension and severance funds. The bank also boasts a world-class digital platform, 72 branches across the country, over 600 ATMs, and phone and chat services. Banco General is a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) and is, accordingly, working with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities. Tweet This!
This case study is based on the 2023 ESG Report by Banco General, prepared in relation to its implementation of the PRB, that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Which Principles for Responsible Banking have been addressed?
The Principles for Responsible Banking addressed in this case are:
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- Principle 3: Clients and Customers
- Principle 4: Stakeholders
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- How Banco General proceeded with stakeholder identification and consultation, and
- How Banco General worked with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities
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Stakeholder identification and consultation
Please describe which stakeholders (or groups/ types of stakeholders) you have identified, consulted, engaged, collaborated or partnered with for the purpose of implementing the Principles and improving your bank’s impacts. This should include a high-level overview of how your bank has identified relevant stakeholders, what issues were addressed/results achieved and how they fed into the action planning process.
Banco General’s stakeholders were identified in a Materiality Study carried out by KPMG, and as a financial institution, the categories have remained consistent. The bank elaborates on its engagement with its stakeholders in its most recent ESG Report.
Among Banco General’s key stakeholders is its customer base, which exceeds 1.7 million individuals. The institution frequently engages with its Consumer Banking clients through various service channels, interviews, and surveys. Through this interaction, Banco General has discovered that these customers have high expectations, value the convenience of the bank’s digital banking platforms, and see areas for improvement that they would like the bank to focus on.
How did Banco General work with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities?
In its 2023 ESG Report Banco General reports that it works with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities as follows:
Banco General actively encourages its consumer banking clients to share their thoughts and opinions through various platforms, including social media and service surveys. For instance, on the topic of financial inclusion, in the development of its digital lending product, Banco General conducted interviews with customers to ensure the product is easy for them to adopt and understand. Similarly, the Yappy digital payments platform, which serves 1.4 million Panamanians and over 23,000 businesses of all sizes, regularly incorporates new features based on customer feedback. Through these efforts, Banco General fosters a robust digital payments ecosystem in the country, along with its associated benefits.
On the environmental front, Banco General is reaching out to its corporate customers to promote awareness of clean energy. The bank conducts individual visits to introduce these concepts in an effort to start changing mindsets. In August 2023, Banco General hosted a major event featuring an ESG expert to facilitate discussions among its Business Banking clients. Additionally, the bank provides loans for electric and hybrid vehicles with favourable terms. To further promote sustainability among customers, Banco General runs communication campaigns that are regularly shared on its social media and mass media platforms, promoting clean energy, recycling, and environmental volunteering, among others.
UN Principles for Responsible Banking: Accelerating a positive global transition for people and the planet
With over 300 signatory banks representing almost half of the global banking industry, the Principles for Responsible Banking are the world’s foremost sustainable banking framework. Through these Principles, the banking community takes action to align core strategies, decision-making, lending and investment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and international agreements such as the Paris Climate Agreement.
FBRH Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) Assurance:
First class PRB assurance services: The result of solid, hands-on ESG/ Sustainability experience
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- FBRH is a GRI Certified Training Partner (Global), ISEP Training Centre and a member of CPD.
- FBRH builds trust. Over 200 reviews from top professionals from around the world demonstrate our ability to build strong, trusting business relationships.
- FBRH possesses a unique skill set that combines ESG/sustainability certified training, experience in advisory services and report preparation, and ESG/sustainability report assurance.
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The combination of all the above empowers FBRH to provide first class Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) assurance services.
References:
This case study is based on published information by Banco General, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:
https://www.bgeneral.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/BG_REPORTE_2023_INGLÉS_3.pdf
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