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The rolling out of various regulations in re-
spect of good governance has made various
financial institutions also develop a Corporate
Social Responsibility strategy. Social, ethical
and ecological factors are becoming increas-
ingly important when developing business
plans. For each financial institution there is
a different CSR strategy. Each of them places
its own emphasis and has its own mix of vari-
ous CSR elements. Each institution must make
sure that its strategy has the support of the or-
ganisation as a whole and that ethical concern
and integrity will prevail when it comes to tak-
ing decisions.
71%
of the sector (11 out of the 19 institutions
surveyed) has drawn up specific procedures to
evaluate the social and ecological risks of the
decisions. These procedures are tested in an in-
ternal dialogue with top management but also
in consultations with for instance employees
and trade unions, customers, consumers or
commercial partners, investors or non-gov-
ernmental organisations (NGOs). That way,
the possible risks of specific decisions come to
light immediately.
A CSR strategy looks nice on paper, but is of
course only effective if the commitments that
are made are put into practice. A CSR strategy
only stands a chance of success if it can trickle
down through all parts of a company and if ev-
eryone gives ethics and integrity a central role.
A manager who implements the CSR strat-
egy may take on the role of propagating that
message.
>
Ethical enterprise
“
This report provides a good overview of
how the sector sees social responsibility.
This is extremely important for a
sector that in the last few years has
lost credibility, especially because
this sector plays a critical role in our
economy. I hope that this report
can be worked on in greater depth
in the future and be supplemented
with concrete goals and figures.”
Sabine Denis, Business & Society, October 2012