Case study: How Aktia identifies and works on strategic business opportunities to increase positive and reduce negative impacts
Aktia is a Finnish asset manager, bank, and life insurance company that has been building wealth and promoting well-being across generations for 200 years. Its business model centres on providing private individuals, businesses, organizations, and institutional clients with banking and financial services supported by expert advice through various channels. Aktia operates through three main divisions: Banking, Asset Management, and Life Insurance. The Group offers digital services to customers everywhere and in-person support at offices located in the Capital region, Turku, Tampere, Vaasa, Oulu, and Kuopio. With approximately 850 employees across Finland, Aktia serves around 266,000 private clients and 24,700 corporate and institutional customers. Aktia 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 Progress Statement by Aktia 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 Aktia proceeded with stakeholder identification and consultation, and
- How Aktia 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.
Collaborating with various stakeholder groups enables Aktia to evaluate and address their expectations. Aktia’s key stakeholders include customers, employees, shareholders, and financiers, as well as social entities such as authorities, partners, NGOs, and the media. Aktia maintains ongoing, open communication across multiple channels to enhance its operations. Aktia’s transparent engagement tools include the company’s website, social media platforms, stock exchange and press releases, customer newsletters, and regular updates to selected stakeholder groups. Aktia also engages with stakeholders through seminars, webinars, local events, trade fairs, and participation in projects. Additionally, Aktia takes part in industry forums to discuss trends, challenges, and opportunities, and monitors public debates related to its sector. Building open and transparent relationships with authorities, partners, and the media—both at the national and local levels—is a priority for Aktia. Aktia also seeks to be a meaningful social contributor locally by collaborating with schools and universities—offering scholarships, participating in educational events, and supporting students with their thesis work. Furthermore, Aktia stays connected with regional Aktia foundations, which fund various community activities, partly supported by dividends received from Aktia ownership.
How did Aktia identify and work on strategic business opportunities to increase positive and reduce negative impacts?
In its 2024 PRB Progress Statement Aktia reports that it identified and worked on strategic business opportunities to increase positive and reduce negative impacts as follows:
Aktia has developed plans to expand its range of green loan products, offering options tailored for both private and corporate customers. This initiative is supported by Aktia’s green and sustainability-linked bond framework established in 2023. Its implementation has been further accelerated by factors such as the Sustainability Guarantee provided to Aktia by the European Investment Fund and a seven-year EUR 75 million loan agreement signed in April 2024 with the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB), a portion of which is dedicated to financing environmental projects. Additionally, Aktia has the capacity to issue green and sustainability-linked corporate bonds, with criteria related to climate change mitigation determined on a case-by-case basis.
Recently, Aktia introduced a new green loan product called the Green Energy Loan, designed for both private individuals and companies, including housing companies seeking to undertake measures that enhance energy efficiency in buildings. Overall, the transition to a greener economy presents new business opportunities for Aktia.
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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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 Aktia, 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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