BEA Archives - SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine Insights on how you can protect the environment, maintain and increase the value of your company, through a structured CSR/Sustainability process with the use of the GRI Standards. Learn how Today's Best-Run Companies are achieving Economic, Social, and Environmental Success - and How You Can Too... Wed, 04 Oct 2023 05:48:33 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Case study: How BEA creates economic value for its stakeholders https://sustaincase.com/case-study-how-bea-creates-economic-value-for-its-stakeholders/ Wed, 04 Oct 2023 05:48:33 +0000 https://ccprowebs.com/new-sustaincase.com/?p=15428 Incorporated in Hong Kong in 1918, the Bank of East Asia, Limited (“BEA”) is dedicated to providing comprehensive wholesale banking, personal banking, wealth management, and investment services to customers in Hong Kong, Mainland China, and other major markets around the world. It is through diligently meeting society’s evolving financial needs that BEA creates long-term value for its stakeholders, retains customers, and develops its business in Greater China and beyond. This case study is based on the 2021 Environmental, Social, and Governance Report by BEA, prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards, that can be found at this link. Through all case […]

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]]> Incorporated in Hong Kong in 1918, the Bank of East Asia, Limited (“BEA”) is dedicated to providing comprehensive wholesale banking, personal banking, wealth management, and investment services to customers in Hong Kong, Mainland China, and other major markets around the world. It is through diligently meeting society’s evolving financial needs that BEA creates long-term value for its stakeholders, retains customers, and develops its business in Greater China and beyond.

This case study is based on the 2021 Environmental, Social, and Governance Report by BEA, prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards, that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ 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. 

Creating and distributing sustainable value responsibly to all its stakeholders is a top priority for BEA.  Tweet This! In order to create economic value for its stakeholders BEA took action to:

  • create economic value for employees
  • create economic value for providers of capital
  • create economic value for governments
  • create economic value for society

What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2021 Environmental, Social, and Governance Report BEA identified a range of material issues, such as business ethics, cybersecurity and data privacy, treating customers fairly, talent attraction and retention. Among these, creating economic value for its stakeholders stands out as a key material issue for BEA.

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:

“The reporting organization shall identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations and interests.”

Stakeholders must be consulted in the process s 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 BEA engages with:

Stakeholder Group                Method of engagement
Customers ·      Customer feedback channels

·      Customer events

·      Sustainability communications via the Bank’s website and social media
Shareholders

 

 ·      Annual General Meetings

·      Corporate communications

·      Communications with ESG rating agencies and ESG indices representatives
Regulators

 

 ·      Participation in industry events

·      Communications with regulator representatives

·      Responding to information requests
Employees

 

 ·      Bank-wide and division town halls

·      Focus groups

·      Employee surveys

·      Staff e-Newsletters

·      Sustainability communications via BEA’s intranet
Society

 

 

 ·      BEA Foundation programmes

·      Staff volunteering

·      Meetings with NGOs

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics BEA engaged with its stakeholders through daily operations and targeted outreach.

What actions were taken by BEA to create economic value for its stakeholders?

In its 2021 Environmental, Social, and Governance Report BEA reports that it took the following actions for creating economic value for its stakeholders:

  • Creating economic value for employees
  • In 2021, BEA paid HK$ 5,521 million for employee compensation and benefits.
  • Creating economic value for providers of capital
  • In 2021, BEA paid HK$ 2,856 million to providers of capital.
  • Creating economic value for governments
  • In 2021, BEA paid HK$ 419 million to the government in Hong Kong, HK$ 4 million to the government in Mainland China and HK$ 249 million to governments in other markets.
  • Creating economic value for society
  • In 2021, BEA paid HK$ 12 million in cash donations to charitable organisations.

Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?

The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed

Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed corresponds to:

 

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.

Research by well-recognised institutions is clearly proving that responsible companies can look to the future with optimism.

7 GRI sustainability disclosures get you started

Any size business can start taking sustainability action

GRI, ISEP, CPD Certified Sustainability courses (2-5 days): Live Online or Classroom  (venue: London School of Economics)

  • Exclusive FBRH template to begin reporting from day one
  • Identify your most important impacts on the Environment, Economy and People
  • Formulate in group exercises your plan for action. Begin taking solid, focused, all-round sustainability action ASAP. 
  • Benchmarking methodology to set you on a path of continuous improvement

See upcoming training dates.
References:

This case study is based on published information by BEA, 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.hkbea.com/pdf/en/about-bea/Sustainability/ESG%20Reports/BEA_2021%20ESG%20Report_ENG.pdf

Note to BEA: With each case study we send out an email requesting a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us.

The post Case study: How BEA creates economic value for its stakeholders appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

]]> Case study: How BEA promotes sustainability across its supply chain https://sustaincase.com/case-study-how-bea-promotes-sustainability-across-its-supply-chain/ Mon, 16 May 2022 06:07:27 +0000 https://ccprowebs.com/new-sustaincase.com/?p=13631 The Bank of East Asia (“BEA”) is a leading Hong Kong-based financial services group, with an extensive presence on the Mainland and branches and partnerships in major centres in Asia, Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This case study is based on the 2020 Environmental, Social, and Governance Report by BEA, prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards, that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ 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, […]

The post Case study: How BEA promotes sustainability across its supply chain appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

]]> The Bank of East Asia (“BEA”) is a leading Hong Kong-based financial services group, with an extensive presence on the Mainland and branches and partnerships in major centres in Asia, Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States. BEA seeks to act with integrity and comply with all applicable laws and regulations, and sets the same standards for its suppliers.  Tweet This!

This case study is based on the 2020 Environmental, Social, and Governance Report by BEA, prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards, that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ 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.

Abstract

BEA prefers to work with suppliers and vendors that have adopted ESG (environmental, social and governance) best practices. For suppliers that have not already made such commitments, BEA provides encouragement to make improvements and better manage associated risks. In order to promote sustainability across its supply chain BEA took action to:

  • implement a Supplier Code of Conduct
  • combat slavery and human trafficking
  • establish a supply chain risk assessment tool

What are the material issues the company has identified?   

In its 2020 Environmental, Social, and Governance Report BEA identified a range of material issues, such as customer data privacy, non-discrimination, occupational health and safety, employee benefits and turnover rates. Among these, promoting sustainability across its supply chain stands out as a key material issue for BEA.

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:

“The reporting organization shall identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations and interests.”

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 BEA engages with:  

Stakeholder Group                Method of engagement
Customers

 

 ·       Customer feedback channels

·       Customer events

·       Sustainability communications via the Bank’s website and social media
Shareholders ·       Annual General Meeting

·       Corporate communications

·       Communications with representatives of ESG rating agencies and ESG indices
Regulators

 

 

 ·       Participation in industry events

·       Communications with regulator representatives

·       Responding to information requests
Employees

 

 ·       Bank-wide and division town halls

·       Focus groups

·       Employee surveys

·       Staff e-Newsletters

·       Sustainability communications via BEA’s intranet
Society

 

 ·       BEA Foundation programmes

·       Staff volunteering

·       Meetings with NGOs

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics BEA engaged with internal and external stakeholders through daily operations and targeted interviews, focus groups, and surveys.

What actions were taken by BEA to promote sustainability across its supply chain?

In its 2020 Environmental, Social, and Governance Report BEA reports that it took the following actions for promoting sustainability across its supply chain:

  • Implementing a Supplier Code of Conduct
  • BEA’s Supplier Code of Conduct is embedded within the procurement process such that all suppliers signing agreements and the Code with BEA are confirming they acknowledge compliance with the Code as a condition of business. BEA’s newly established Human Rights Policy, applicable to its suppliers, aligns with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and its business activities are guided by the UN International Bill of Human Rights, including the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the fundamental conventions of the International Labour Organisation (“ILO”).
  • Combating slavery and human trafficking
  • BEA prohibits slavery and human trafficking in its supply chain. Suppliers must satisfy BEA’s requirement regarding social and ethical standards of conduct as well as conditions of employment including health & safety, wages, working hours, discrimination, harassment, and grievance mechanisms. BEA is committed to working with suppliers that showcase best practice, while encouraging others to develop and demonstrate improvement within these fields. BEA’s Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement, published in line with the UK’s Modern Slavery Act 2015, is available via its website.
  • Establishing a supply chain risk assessment tool
  • BEA has established a tool for conducting a review of suppliers based on the inherent geographical and product risks for the items and services it sources. The risk assessment tool is deployed on purchase orders over a threshold value. It allows BEA to segment suppliers into four groups: priority, moderate, specialised, and minimum. Each segment has different due diligence requirements based on associated risks. In 2020, BEA worked with ELEVATE, a global business risk and sustainability solutions provider, to conduct a review of its sourcing procedures to identify areas for improvement. To help guide procurement staff through the responsible procurement process and ensure staff properly manage supplier relationships a Sustainable Procurement Toolkit was established, which contains related resources including the Procure-to-pay guidelines, Supplier Code of Conduct, procurement workflow, risk calculator, and training materials. The Toolkit is available to Hong Kong staff members via BEA’s

Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?

The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:

1) Disclosure 308-1 New suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria

2) Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria

 

Disclosure 308-1 New suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria does not correspond to any SDG.

Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria corresponds to:

 

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.

Research by well-recognised institutions is clearly proving that responsible companies can look to the future with optimism.

7 GRI sustainability disclosures get you started

Any size business can start taking sustainability action

GRI, ISEP, CPD Certified Sustainability courses (2-5 days): Live Online or Classroom  (venue: London School of Economics)

  • Exclusive FBRH template to begin reporting from day one
  • Identify your most important impacts on the Environment, Economy and People
  • Formulate in group exercises your plan for action. Begin taking solid, focused, all-round sustainability action ASAP. 
  • Benchmarking methodology to set you on a path of continuous improvement

See upcoming training dates.
References:

This case study is based on published information by BEA, 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.hkbea.com/pdf/en/about-bea/corporate-social-responsibility/csr-reports/BEA_2020 ESG Report_Eng.pdf

Note to BEA: With each case study we send out an email requesting a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us.

The post Case study: How BEA promotes sustainability across its supply chain appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

]]> Case study: How BEA promotes employee development https://sustaincase.com/case-study-how-bea-promotes-employee-development/ Fri, 04 Dec 2020 06:43:00 +0000 https://ccprowebs.com/new-sustaincase.com/?p=11994 The Bank of East Asia (BEA) is a leading Hong Kong-based financial services group providing a comprehensive range of corporate banking, personal banking, wealth management, and investment services. BEA’s people deliver the products and services that enable BEA to be the preferred banking partner of its customers. Accordingly, , building a workplace where employees feel engaged, valued, and motivated. This case study is based on the 2019 Environmental, Social, and Governance Report by BEA published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ […]

The post Case study: How BEA promotes employee development appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

]]>

The Bank of East Asia (BEA) is a leading Hong Kong-based financial services group providing a comprehensive range of corporate banking, personal banking, wealth management, and investment services. BEA’s people deliver the products and services that enable BEA to be the preferred banking partner of its customers. Accordingly, BEA constantly invests in people development and training  Tweet This!, building a workplace where employees feel engaged, valued, and motivated.

This case study is based on the 2019 Environmental, Social, and Governance Report by BEA published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ 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.

By supporting the professional and career growth of its people, BEA shows that it values the contribution of every individual staff member. And by committing themselves to ongoing professional development, BEA’s employees are better able to serve the changing needs of its customers. In order to promote employee development BEA took action to:

  • invest in staff development
  • implement a new talent development framework
  • launch a new leadership training programme

What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2019 Environmental, Social, and Governance Report BEA identified a range of material issues, such as customer data privacy, general compliance with laws and regulations, anti-corruption, employee benefits and turnover rates, non-discrimination. Among these, promoting employee development stands out as a key material issue for BEA.  

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:

“The reporting organization shall identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations and interests.”

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 BEA engages with:

Stakeholder Group
Employees 
Customers 
Investors
Government and regulators
Industry associations
Suppliers 
Community partners

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics BEA conducted focus groups and phone interviews to gather stakeholder views on material topics along with two online surveys, to rate the importance of each topic – using a scale of 0 to 5.

What actions were taken by BEA to promote employee development?

In its 2019 Environmental, Social, and Governance Report BEA reports that it took the following actions for promoting employee development: 

  • Investing in staff development 
  • In 2019, BEA invested over HK$27 million in staff development and delivered more than 41 hours of training on average to employees at all levels of the Bank, equipping them with the skills needed to serve its customers and support BEA’s development. BEA offers a wide range of online and in-person training courses, from beginner to advanced, to equip staff members with the skills they need to meet their full potential. Additionally, BEA provides subsidies to employees who take accredited courses outside the Bank and makes sure that every staff member is provided with training in modern business risks, such as cybersecurity, money laundering, and terrorist financing risks. Training also focuses on product and financial knowledge, leadership and management skills, customer service and sales experience, and operational know-how.
  • Implementing a new talent development framework
  • In October 2019, BEA implemented a new talent development framework to support staff members in their growth. The framework provides a structured and robust approach to identifying employees with strong potential to serve at the senior management and department head levels within the Bank, supporting their aspirations for growth and development and grooming talent to assume future leadership roles. With this framework in place, a new potential identification exercise and a refined succession planning exercise were carried out during 2019. In 2020, BEA aims to launch a series of new talent and leadership development interventions. At the same time, BEA continues to groom young talent under existing programmes, such as the Management Trainee, Corporate Banking Trainee, Operations Trainee, Relationship Manager Trainee and Branch Operations Trainee programmes.
  • Launching a new leadership training programme
  • BEA launched a new leadership training programme on performance management for the Senior Management and their executives. The training was designed to foster a collaborative mindset when setting strategic goals and to sharpen necessary skills, making sure that these goals are tied closely with the Bank’s core objectives, are well-aligned across different business units and functions, and are effectively cascaded down the organisation.

Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed? 

The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 404-1 Average hours of training per year per employee

Disclosure 404-1 Average hours of training per year per employee corresponds to:

 

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.

Research by well-recognised institutions is clearly proving that responsible companies can look to the future with optimism.

7 GRI sustainability disclosures get you started

Any size business can start taking sustainability action

GRI, ISEP, CPD Certified Sustainability courses (2-5 days): Live Online or Classroom  (venue: London School of Economics)

  • Exclusive FBRH template to begin reporting from day one
  • Identify your most important impacts on the Environment, Economy and People
  • Formulate in group exercises your plan for action. Begin taking solid, focused, all-round sustainability action ASAP. 
  • Benchmarking methodology to set you on a path of continuous improvement

See upcoming training dates.
References:

1) This case study is based on published information by BEA, 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) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/ 

Note to BEA: With each case study we send out an email requesting a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us. 

The post Case study: How BEA promotes employee development appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

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