Case study: How NBG identifies and works on strategic business opportunities to increase positive and reduce negative impacts
Founded in 1841, NBG has been listed on the Athens Exchange since 1880. With a rich tradition and significant contribution to Greece’s economic development, along with the trust of its shareholders, customers, depositors, and employees, NBG stands as a pillar of stability for the Greek economy. It is one of Greece’s four systemic banks and among the largest financial institutions in the country by market capitalization. The bank and its subsidiaries offer a wide range of universal financial services, including retail, corporate, and investment banking, transactional banking, leasing, factoring, brokerage, asset management, real estate, and insurance-related services. NBG is a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) and is, accordingly, identifying and working on strategic business opportunities to increase positive and reduce negative impacts. Tweet This!
This case study is based on the 2024 PRB Responsible Banking Progress Statement by NBG 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:
- Principle 3: Clients and Customers
- Principle 4: Stakeholders
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- How NBG proceeded with stakeholder identification and consultation, and
- How NBG identified and worked on strategic business opportunities to increase positive and reduce negative impacts
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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.
NBG is deeply committed to understanding the positive and negative impacts of its operations, business model, and value chain on individuals and corporate entities. In line with the CSRD requirements and ESRS standards, the bank re-evaluated the identified stakeholder groups of 2023 and determined that employees and clients are its primary affected stakeholders.
NBG seeks to maintain ongoing engagement with its stakeholders through various communication channels, such as the intranet, public website, Contact Center, and satisfaction surveys, in order to better understand their perspectives and needs and provide a better experience across different touchpoints.
Additionally, NBG has established specific policies and processes to foster engagement with its workforce, aiming to create an inclusive environment, and with its clients, to improve their access to and benefits from its products and services.
How did NBG identify and work on strategic business opportunities to increase positive and reduce negative impacts?
In its 2024 PRB Responsible Banking Progress Statement NBG reports that it identified and worked on strategic business opportunities to increase positive and reduce negative impacts as follows:
Through the Double Materiality Assessment process, conducted as a core component of its sustainability reporting, NBG identified specific opportunity areas within each material ESRS topic or sub-topic and its related IROs (Impacts – Risks – Opportunities). This approach considers the interconnectedness and interdependencies among these elements. For more details, please refer to NBG’s 2024 Annual Financial Report, page 194, and the sections dedicated to the process itself, as well as the monitoring, management of impacts, and opportunity capitalization.
NBG’s range of sustainability-related products and services is summarized in its 2024 Annual Financial Report, page 232, and extensively discussed under section S4.SBM-3_05, pages 281–284. These sections highlight the role these offerings play in supporting NBG’s decarbonization efforts, including assisting customers and clients in transitioning to more energy-efficient homes, electromobility, less polluting business operations, and more sustainable business models.
Assessing the market potential for sustainability opportunities—both current and emerging—has become more feasible with the implementation of NBG’s Sustainable Finance Framework (SFF). This framework serves as a reference for defining financings and investments as sustainable. The SFF categorizes sustainability into different tiers, starting with those aligned with the EU Taxonomy and extending to other financings and investments deemed sustainable based on specific, measurable internal criteria. This provides clear guidelines not only for labelling NBG’s sustainable finance volumes (stock and flow) but also for setting targets based on identified market opportunities, such as retrofit loans with particular features (e.g., minimum energy efficiency improvements).
Partnerships and innovation are central to NBG’s strategy for capturing emerging business opportunities. These efforts have already been tested through initiatives such as the partnership with the country’s leading energy company PPC for financing solar panel installations, embedded banking with major suppliers, and co-financed programs with EIB/EIF.
Recently, NBG joined the European Energy Efficiency Financing Coalition, working closely with the Greek National Hub to develop specific solutions aimed at accelerating energy efficiency financing. This collaboration focuses on overcoming barriers that hinder demand and supply in energy upgrade financing and investments.
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 NBG, 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:
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