Case study: How Achmea Bank 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.

Achmea Bank employs various tools and methods to engage with stakeholders, ensuring alignment with society’s goals. Achmea Bank’s primary stakeholder groups include employees, customers, and investors. Achmea Bank engages with them through various means, such as:

• Customer councils and customer-centric dialogue sessions.
• Assessing the quality of Achmea Bank’s services through Net Promoter Score (NPS).
• Conducting market research.
• Employee council.
• A non-discrimination policy (code of conduct).
• Active involvement in initiatives by the Dutch Banking Association, such as ‘Bankers in the classroom’ and market research.
• Actively seeking partnerships to reach Achmea Bank’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including initiatives like PCAF, EEM NL Hub, and the Sector Collective ‘Duurzaam Wonen’.
• Engagement dialogue with Achmea Bank’s partners and investors.

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

In its 2023 ESG Impact Report Achmea Bank reports that it works with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities as follows:

• The highest negative impact on climate stems from the financed carbon emissions of Achmea Bank’s mortgage portfolio. Achmea Bank has established a sustainability policy concerning housing, along with key performance indicators (KPIs) to gauge the energy efficiency of its mortgages. Additionally, Achmea Bank has programs aimed at incentivizing homeowners to enhance the sustainability of their residences.
• Achmea Bank serves 450,000 households with its products, seeking a fair, proactive, and transparent dialogue with its customers. This approach ensures systematic consideration of their interests and the incorporation of their ideas and feedback into, for example, the development of products and services.
• Achmea Bank works closely with Centraal Beheer to encourage its customers to implement sustainability-related improvements in their homes, such as energy-saving measures, assisting them in making their residences more sustainable.
• Presently, Achmea Bank is introducing incentives for customers, including an interest discount for homes with an energy efficiency rating of A or higher, as well as the option to arrange an execution-only sustainability loan.
• In collaboration with Centraal Beheer, Achmea Bank provides sustainability training to financial advisers.
• Achmea Bank facilitates customer engagement through initiatives like a customer council and customer-centric dialogue sessions.
• Achmea Bank promotes saving and investment among customers by offering attractive propositions with favourable conditions and/or interest rates.
• Achmea Bank’s Preventative & Special Asset Management team supports customers facing financial challenges. By actively supporting and guiding them through their personal and financial situations, Achmea Bank seeks to provide future-proof solutions and empowers customers to enhance their self-reliance.

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.

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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 Achmea Bank, 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.achmeabank.nl/-/media/achmea-bank/documenten/investors/ghg-report/achmea-bank-esg-impact-report-2023.pdf

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