What are the material issues the company has identified? 

In its 2022 Sustainability Report TBC Group identified a range of material issues, such as anti-corruption, ethics, & countering money laundering, employee development, training, education and leadership, privacy and data security, diversity and inclusion. Among these, creating economic value for its stakeholders stands out as a key material issue for TBC Group.

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 TBC Group engages with:

To identify and prioritise material topics TBC Group engaged with its stakeholders through the following channels:

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement
Customers	·      Touch points ·      Monitoring and responding to customer complaints through TBC Group’s framework of branches, award-winning digital channels, social media, and call centres in Georgia
Employees	·      In person focus groups ·      Targeted online surveys ·      The CEO and Executive Management hold regular meetings with the full workforce on topics related to delivering strategy and achieving objectives, as well as workforce health and safety and mental health ·      The HR team provide regular updates to employees on matters related to mental health and wellbeing, and workshops on mental health issues are provided in conjunction with an external company to provide support where needed
Investors	·      Investor relations programme, which offers investors various opportunities to engage with senior management through quarterly financial results calls, post-results roadshow meetings and regular participation in investor conferences
Community and environment	·      Regular updates on the process of developing TBC Group’s ESG Strategy and setting ESG targets through the active work of the ESG and Ethics Committee ·      Frequent updates from the Bank’s Chief Economist on the macroeconomic dynamics in the Bank’s primary markets of operation

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

In its 2022 Sustainability Report TBC Group reports that it took the following actions for creating economic value for its stakeholders:

• Creating economic value for employees
• In 2022, TBC Group paid GEL 374,816 thousand for employee salaries and bonuses.

• Creating economic value for shareholders
• In 2022, TBC Group paid GEL 276,022 thousand to shareholders.

• Creating economic value for governments
• In 2022, TBC Group paid GEL 243,205 thousand in corporate income tax.

• Creating economic value for the community
• In 2022, TBC Group spent GEL 854 thousand in community investments.

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:

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• Targets: 8.1, 8.2
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
• Targets: 9.1, 9.4, 9.5

 

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

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References:

This case study is based on published information by TBC Group, 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://tbcbankgroup.com/esg/sustainability-reports/

Note to TBC Group: 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.