Case study: How OTP Group works with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices

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.

OTP Group maintains continuous engagement with a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including shareholders, customers, employees, regulatory authorities, business partners, NGOs, employee representatives, and external ESG expert groups. These interactions serve commercial, informational, and policy-related objectives, allowing OTP Group to gather valuable insights and address material issues such as climate stability, biodiversity, circularity, financial inclusion, health, and human rights.

As part of its double materiality assessment, OTP Group consults affected stakeholders or their representatives to better understand the impacts of its business activities. The insights gained from these consultations, combined with due diligence, ongoing stakeholder engagement, and compliance with regulatory guidelines, shape its methodology, assessment updates, sustainability reporting, strategic planning, and operational practices.

OTP Group views stakeholders as groups and individuals who either influence or are influenced by its business operations. The Group fosters an ongoing dialogue on its societal role, products and services, business performance, and other pertinent topics.

How did OTP Group work with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities?

In its 2024 PRB Responsible Banking Progress Statement OTP Group reports that it works with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities as follows:

Safety, Security, and Ethical Operations
At OTP Group, ensuring safety and security in all operations is a top priority. The Group continuously evaluates and manages risks that could affect its activities and implements comprehensive measures to prevent fraud and other threats.

In developing products and providing accessible services, OTP Group strictly complies with ethical standards and consumer protection regulations. Its objective is to deliver modern, high-quality, and fair services that effectively meet customer needs. The Group is committed to supporting customers’ financial well-being by offering products tailored to their actual requirements and financial capabilities.

Recognizing the complexity of financial products and services, OTP Group emphasizes clear and effective communication. The Group is dedicated to maintaining transparency and simplicity in its communication practices to enable customers to make well-informed decisions.

Green Lending
OTP Group actively incorporates green lending into its strategic approach, seeking to ensure that clients from various sectors can access loans aligned with green or sustainable objectives, provided they have a related environmental or social goal. The development and maturity of this approach vary depending on the country, industry, and customer segment.

The Group’s green portfolio primarily targets the following sectors:

• Energy: Financing renewable energy generation, distribution, storage, and related loan purposes,
• Real Estate: Supporting the development and purchase of green properties and financing renovations that significantly improve energy efficiency,
• Transportation: Promoting initiatives in electro-mobility.

Through these targeted efforts, OTP Group aims to facilitate the transition to a low-carbon economy and promote sustainable development through responsible financing practices.

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

• • • 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.

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 OTP Group, 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.otpgroup.info/static/sw/file/250425_Integrated_report_e_final_093.pdf

Note to OTP Group: With each case study we send out an email requesting a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us.