Case study: How SIX contributes to the stability and attractiveness of the Swiss financial center through forward-looking services
SIX’s mission is to ensure the stability, efficiency and competitiveness of the Swiss financial center through first-rate infrastructure services, a mission that is accomplished not least through forward-looking services benefiting society as a whole and fostering the sustainable development and attractiveness of Switzerland as a financial center.
This case study is based on the 2015 Corporate Responsibility Report by SIX published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate that CSR/ sustainability reporting done responsibly is achieved by identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment and stakeholders and by measuring, managing and changing.
By providing innovative, top quality infrastructure services SIX strives to ensure the reliability and efficacy of the Swiss financial market. In order to contribute to the stability and attractiveness of the Swiss financial center through forward-looking services, SIX took action to:
- help financial institutions achieve compliance
- contribute to the efficient use of resources through e-bills
- enable paper-free land registry information processing through Terravis
- develop the SXI Switzerland Sustainability 25 Index on the most sustainable companies
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) SIX has identified;
- How SIX proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by SIX to contribute to the stability and attractiveness of the Swiss financial center
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2015 Corporate Responsibility Report SIX identified a range of material issues, such as a working environment that provides opportunities for all employees and empowers them to give their best, client satisfaction, employee diversity, compliance with laws. Among these, contributing to the stability and attractiveness of the Swiss financial center through forward-looking services stands out as a key material issue for SIX.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups SIX engages with:
| Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
| Owners | · Continual dialogue |
| Sciences | · Project-based dialogue |
| Suppliers | · Project-based negotiations |
| Industry associations
| · Active participation in working groups · Management of memberships |
| Regulators and supervisory authorities | · Regular reporting · Participation in working groups and in consultative proceedings/hearings |
| Politics | · Continuous, active relationship management |
| Employees | · Employee survey every two years |
| Clients | · Annual client satisfaction survey · Dialogue through Top Account Management |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
In 2015, to identify topics considered material by stakeholders, SIX analyzed information from the 2015 client survey and the 2014 employee survey and, also, conducted qualitative interviews with shareholders, clients and a non-governmental organization.
What actions were taken by SIX to contribute to the stability and attractiveness of the Swiss financial center through forward-looking services?
In its 2015 Corporate Responsibility Report SIX reports that it took the following actions to contribute to the stability and attractiveness of the Swiss financial center through forward-looking services:
- Helping financial institutions achieve compliance
- A service developed by SIX Financial Information assists financial institutions worldwide in complying with FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) requirements, preparing and providing specific data to ensure reporting obligations are met.
- Contributing to the efficient use of resources through e-bills
- E-bills, increasingly used by bank clients, improve the efficiency of invoicing and ensure the sustainable use of resources. [tweetthis]In 2015 e-bills, progressively replacing paper invoices, reached 13.3 million.[/tweetthis]
- Enabling paper-free land registry information processing through Terravis
- SIX developed Terravis, a high-tech land registry information system providing cross-canton access to property information from a single source and enabling paper-free processing by registry officials – which speeds up processes and saves all parties concerned time and money.
- Developing the SXI Switzerland Sustainability 25 Index on the most sustainable companies
- The SXI Switzerland Sustainability 25 Index provides information to financial market players on the most sustainable companies, based on scores given to companies by external research partners – the higher a score, the more sustainable the company. Companies are ranked on the basis of their total points, to select the 25 with the highest points totals.
Which GRI indicators/Standards have been addressed?
The GRI indicator addressed in this case is: G4-FS7: MONETARY VALUE OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES DESIGNED TO DELIVER A SPECIFIC SOCIAL BENEFIT FOR EACH BUSINESS LINE BROKEN DOWN BY PURPOSE
78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards
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References:
1) This case study is based on published information by SIX, 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 original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2) http://www.fbrh.co.uk/en/global-reporting-initiative-gri-g4-guidelines-download-page
3) https://g4.globalreporting.org/Pages/default.aspx
4) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
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