Case study: How Citi works with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices
Citi is a global diversified financial services holding company offering a wide array of financial products and services to consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions. These include consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, trade and securities services, and wealth management. With around 200 million customer accounts, Citi conducts business across nearly 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi is a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) and is, accordingly, working with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities. Tweet This!
This case study is based on the 2022 ESG Report by Citi, 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:
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- Principle 3: Clients and Customers
- Principle 4: Stakeholders
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With this case study you will see:
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- How Citi proceeded with stakeholder identification and consultation, and
- How Citi worked with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities
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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.
Citi believes in delivering business value by prioritizing the interests of various stakeholders, including shareholders. To uphold this principle, Citi consistently assesses its engagements with stakeholders across multiple departments, such as Enterprise Services and Public Affairs (ESPA), Investor Relations, Human Resources, Corporate Governance, Sustainability & ESG, Government Affairs, and other ESPA teams.
A summary detailing the groups Citi engaged with and the topics covered can be found in the Stakeholder Engagement at Citi section of Citi’s 2022 ESG Report. Additionally, Citi’s engagements related to climate issues with clients and trade associations are highlighted in its 2022 TCFD Report.
How did Citi work with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities?
In its 2022 ESG Report Citi reports that it works with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities as follows:
Citi has dedicated teams integrated throughout its businesses to provide strategic sustainable finance services and solutions. Across its various business groups, such as Banking, Capital Markets and Advisory, Global Markets, Global Wealth Management, and Treasury and Trade Solutions, Citi has bankers or teams specifically focused on advising clients and offering tailored ESG-themed products and services. More information is provided in “Sustainable Finance Across Citi” on page 22 of Citi’s 2022 ESG Report. Details on climate-related engagements are provided on page 29 of Citi’s 2022 TCFD Report.
Citi’s Environmental and Social Risk Management (ESRM) Policy serves as a guide for engaging with clients regarding environmental and social risks, ensuring responsible financing of projects and activities. Continuous engagement with its clients is integral to Citi’s ESRM process. Initially, Citi’s engagements were linked to specific financial transactions and their associated environmental and social risks and mitigation efforts. However, as Citi developed Sector Approaches and identified Areas of High Caution over time, it expanded corporate-level reviews and client engagements across various sectors. These sector-specific risk review processes foster dialogue between Citi and its clients about the material environmental and social risks related to their operations, enabling Citi to gain insights into industry practices and its clients’ performance and offer advice on adopting more sustainable practices, as necessary.
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), IEMA 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 Citi, 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.citigroup.com/rcs/citigpa/storage/public/Global-ESG-Report-2022.pdf
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