Case study: How St. Georges 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.

St. Georges Bank is dedicated to ensuring sustainable business management by upholding corporate governance grounded in transparent and ethical practices, which enable St. Georges Bank to build and strengthen trusting relationships with all its stakeholders.

St. Georges Bank’s collaboration is carried out in partnership with the following stakeholders:

• Board of Directors
• Shareholders
• Clients
• Employees
• Community
• Suppliers
• Regulatory entities
• Local governments
• Strategic allies
• Media

The process of identifying and prioritizing stakeholders as a Bank involves recognizing and categorizing the different individuals or groups that have an interest in or are affected by the institution’s operations and performance. St. Georges Bank is fully aware that understanding and addressing their needs and concerns is essential for ensuring long-term sustainability.

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

In its 2023 PRB Reporting and Self-Assessment Template St. Georges Bank reports that it works with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities as follows:

St. Georges Bank revises several policies annually to improve and align with sustainability standards, including:
• Human Resources Manual
• Code of Ethics and Conduct
• Human Rights Policy
• Sustainability Policy
• Corporate Governance Policy
• Environmental and Social Risk Management Policy

As signatories of the Women’s Empowerment Principles and the Iniciativa de Paridad de Género Panamá, St. Georges Bank has developed an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Policy, which was published in May 2024.

The bank has implemented ARAS 3.0 to evaluate credits with a specific focus on climate risks, providing clients with additional information on how to adapt their businesses to future climate change impacts. The exclusion list is continuously updated to restrict sectors associated with high-intensity activities.

St. Georges Bank is currently working on its Double Materiality Process Analysis:

• Financial
  For SASB, materiality reflects ESG (environmental, social, and governance) factors that could reasonably influence the financial condition, operating performance, and cash flows of companies. This materiality addresses investor concerns.
• Impact
  For GRI, materiality highlights the most significant impacts the company has on the external world—specifically in the economy, the environment, and society. These impacts can have positive or negative consequences for the company’s operations, reputation, and financial health.
• Double Materiality Process
  The materiality analysis involves multiple stages, initially identifying impact materiality and then integrating financial materiality. This process is based on a methodological framework aligned with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which connects impacts with material themes and principles established by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). It links risks and opportunities with material themes, ensuring the process responds to a broad group of stakeholders.

Furthermore, in Q4 2024, St. Georges Bank will initiate the migration of its sustainability reporting to GRI/SASB standards. This transition aims to establish a robust and comprehensive reporting framework that will meet stakeholder needs and prepare the bank for the sustainability standards S1 and S2.

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

• • • FBRH is a GRI Certified Training Partner (Global), ISEP 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.

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 St. Georges 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.stgeorgesbank.com/quienes-somos/reporte-banca-responsable-unep-fi/principios-de-banca-responsable-unep-fi-2023/ – book/

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