Case study: How ABANCA 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.

One of ABANCA’s key priorities is to maintain continuous and open communication with all its stakeholders through various channels, allowing the identification of important issues, risks, and opportunities in line with its Social Responsibility framework.

The consulted groups include employees, customers, shareholders and investors, suppliers, and society. ABANCA uses a comprehensive set of tools to enhance stakeholder consultation, facilitating dialogue and understanding. The bank monitors its actions and provides regular updates to stakeholders proactively.

In this context, ABANCA has conducted a materiality analysis to pinpoint the organization’s significant sustainability issues. The goal of this analysis is to inform on these issues and develop strategies and initiatives that align with stakeholders’ needs and expectations.

In addition to the dual materiality exercise, several initiatives have been launched, involving active listening to different stakeholder groups identified by the organization:

• Customer relations enhancement practices include initiatives such as ABANCA Escucha Delta, ABANCA Colabora, and Mystery Shopper programmes, aimed at understanding customers’ needs and expectations, as well as customer service charters.
• ABANCA is actively involved in working groups related to its commitments, focusing on developing and implementing measures in constant dialogue with its customers and stakeholders. These commitments include the Collective Commitment to Climate Action, the NetZero Banking Alliance of UNEP FI, the Sectoral Climate Agreement of the Spanish banking sector, the Principles for Responsible Investment, and the Principles for a Sustainable Ocean. ABANCA has also been a member of the Global Compact Global Network since its establishment.
• The bank launched the ABANCA Observatory by UIE, aimed at providing the Galician society, particularly its economic sectors (self-employed individuals, professionals, companies, SMEs, corporations), with data that supports informed decision-making.
• Participation in the Sectoral Observatory on Sustainable Finance Regulation and other sectoral initiatives led by banking associations in 2022.
• The bank engages in ESG meetings with investors, analysts, and rating agencies.
• It also attends the Sustainability Committee of banking associations (CECA and AEB).
• Organization of the 3rd Sustainable Finance Session to discuss sustainability in business and finance, addressing climate transition challenges and promoting strategies toward a new economic model. The session features representatives from the Bank of Spain, the CNMV, and other public and private authorities.
• ABANCA also raises awareness and trains its employees through sustainability-related news on the intranet.
• The bank’s supplier approval process incorporates sustainability criteria, and suppliers’ feedback is collected through satisfaction surveys.

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

In its 2023 Corporate and Social Responsibility Report ABANCA reports that it works with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities as follows:

All of ABANCA’s activities are governed by internal policies and procedures that ensure responsible behaviour and form the corporate framework guiding the organization. This framework aims to balance economic growth, environmental sustainability, and social welfare:

• Code of Ethics and Conduct: ABANCA has established policies, including an Anti-Corruption Policy and a Commitment to Human Rights, to ensure ethical and responsible behaviour.
• Sustainability Policy: This reflects the bank’s commitment to providing comprehensive services to customers, supporting them in the transition towards a sustainable business model.
• Responsible Investment and Integration of Sustainability Risks Policy: This policy reflects ABANCA’s adherence to the Principles for Responsible Investment, aligning investment strategies with customer objectives while promoting social and environmental well-being. ABANCA maintains dialogue with the companies it invests in to encourage responsible behaviour. Other related policies include the Statement on the main adverse impacts of investment decisions on sustainability factors and the engagement policy.
• Environmental and Climate Risk Management Policy: Aimed at minimizing the environmental impact of ABANCA’s credit activities, this policy seeks to mitigate climate change and its effects.
• Quality Policy: This demonstrates ABANCA’s commitment to continuous improvement and service excellence by promoting best practices, addressing customer needs, and fostering improvement initiatives.
• Commercial Communication Policy: Ensures that advertisements comply with applicable regulations and are clear, accurate, and comprehensible. It emphasizes ethical advertising that helps customers fully understand the products and services offered, including their benefits, risks, and costs.
• Communication Policy: Focused on establishing a transparent and honest communication framework with stakeholders, this policy helps preserve the bank’s reputation, supports its strategic objectives, and promotes responsible communication under the criteria of transparency, veracity, rigour, coherence, efficiency, fairness, responsibility and sustainability.
• Procurement Regulation: Updated in 2021, this requires ABANCA’s suppliers to comply with environmental policies, the Code of Ethics and Conduct of suppliers and, therefore, the Global Compact Principles.

Additionally, ABANCA provides specialized training to central services and network teams in sustainable finance, risk management, and investment. This training aims to better understand customer needs and support them in transitioning to sustainable practices.

ABANCA has also formed cross-functional working groups and specialized units (such as AGRO, MAR, NEXTGENERATION) to manage subsidies, aid, and solutions that promote sustainable practices.

Lastly, ABANCA has developed a dedicated catalogue of sustainable products to assist both companies and individuals in transitioning to more sustainable models.

UN Principles for Responsible Banking: Accelerating a positive global transition for people and the planet

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References:

This case study is based on published information by ABANCA, 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.abancacorporacionbancaria.com/files/documents/memoria-corporativa-rs-2023-en.pdf

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