In recent times, the financial services sector has shifted focus from being solely concerned about the profitability of business ventures to a more expanded focus that incorporates Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors in evaluating sustainability potentials. ESG criteria have become the mainstream non-financial metrics used to gauge businesses success and sustainability
One brand that has taken consistent and deliberate steps to adopt and implement appropriate ESG strategies is Stanbic IBTC.
For instance, the company made significant carbon emission savings by reducing its total emission by 1.67 tons in 2020, according to its 2020 Sustainability Report. The Stanbic IBTC sustainability report highlighted the organization’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices, which cut across Corporate Social Investments (CSI), environmental and social risk management practices, and performance.
Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC, Dr Demola Sogunle, while commenting on the report, said: “The Sustainability Report has highlighted our shared values in 2020, and is expected to help our key stakeholders better appreciate our long-term priorities to ensure financial, social, and environmental sustainability in our business operations. Our sustainability ambition is to become the leading financial institution driving sustainable finance solutions in Nigeria, and we have defined a sustainability strategy that is anchored on four pillars to achieve this.”
Stanbic IBTC’s sustainability pillars are aligned with the Nigerian Sustainable Banking Principles. The Group’s defined pillars are building environmental resilience, expanding business model and innovation, enhancing social relationships, and strengthening leadership for sustainability governance. The company’s sustainability report highlighted the progress Stanbic IBTC had made across the four sustainability pillars, and the seven Social, Environmental and Economic (SEE) impact areas wherein the Group had confidence in achieving significant outcomes.
The report reflected that Stanbic IBTC made significant carbon emission savings and reduced its total carbon emission by 1.67 tons in 2020. Hybrid solar systems were deployed in its branches and off-site ATMs. Additionally, a 30% reduction in paper use was achieved in its Go-Green branches initiative that contributed indirectly to a decrease in tree-felling for paper production.
Stanbic IBTC conducted waste audit exercises across three head office campuses to quantify the amount and types of waste generated at the locations for better waste management insight. As part of the Group’s sustainability governance in 2020, Environmental and Social Risk awareness training was conducted to educate its staff on the importance of Environmental and Social Risk management.
Commenting on this unique effort in the bank’s sustainability report. Basil Omiyi, Chairman Stanbic IBTC revealed that the bank, “instituted the SEE (Social, Environmental and Economic) approach to promote sustainability as a way of doing business, and to ensure a coordinated approach towards achieving our ESG goals”.
Driving sustainable growth and value remained a strategic priority for the Group. The bank’s focus has been on driving meaningful impacts across our identified seven SEE impact areas namely: Education, Health, Job Creation and Enterprise Growth, Financial Inclusion, Africa Trade and Investment, Infrastructure, Climate Change and Sustainable Finance.
The Group continually sought to provide financial solutions and services that catered to a large and diverse client base, as we created shared value for stakeholders. In so doing, the remained mindful of potential negative impacts on the environment and society, and have maintained robust policies and procedures to ensure appropriate management of ESG risks.
Practical steps were taken by the Group to manage the direct impacts on the environment and society. Our energy efficiency programs, adoption of cleaner energy sources, waste management programs and implementation of tree planting projects were testament to the Group’s commitment to reduce carbon emission and climate change impacts associated with our operations.
On the social front, the Group’s Corporate Social Investment (CSI) framework remained focused on three key areas: education, health, and economic empowerment. One of such sponsorship programmes included the five-year sponsorship deal with the Higher Institution Football League and sponsorship of other youth centred programmes.
The Group acknowledges that to accelerate progress in achieving the global sustainable development goals (SDGs), partnerships with clients and other stakeholders are necessary. So they are committed to remaining active players in driving sustainability conversations and industry action aimed at promoting sustainable development in Nigeria and the world.
In 2021, Stanbic IBTC introduced new sustainable solutions, and continued to partner with relevant stakeholders to advance sustainable economic development in our society.
The Group rode on its strong management team, industry expertise, and strong sustainability pillars, which led to the significant progress recorded on our sustainability journey as an organisation. Our four core sustainability pillars – building environmental resilience, enhancing social relationships, expanding business model and innovation, and strengthening leadership for sustainability governance continued to underpin our sustainability strategy.
Stanbic IBTC continued to prioritise environmental and social risk management by identifying material ESG issues applicable to our business operations and activities, developing and strengthening existing management strategies to address these challenges, setting targets and action plans to achieve the targets, and getting employees involved every step of the way.
In 2021, Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC commenced a women empowerment programme titled the Ladies At The Table Empowerment Series (LATTES), which seeks to promote women’s economic empowerment through trainings and support for Nigerian women in the business world. This is in addition to the other women economic empowerment programs facilitated in the year through the bank’s Blue Women Network (BWN). In line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s ‘Nigeria Sustainable Banking Principles’, the bank launched the Blue Blossom account in 2021 to offer women better and easier access to finance their businesses, bridge the financing gap for women in their various careers and businesses, and promote their economic empowerment.
Demola Sogunle, The bank’s Chief Executive led the continuously creation of opportunities for process improvements that factors sustainability design thinking. Some of such process improvement initiatives deployed in the year include: Relationship manager (“RM”) companion The RM Companion is a mobile application that facilitates remote onboarding of customers and KYC updates on-the-go, reducing the need for paper-based account opening packages. RMs will also be able to retrieve product information on the app. Straight-through Processing (“STP”) on Quick Services Portal Some requests on the Quick Services Portal (“QSP”) hosted on the Bank’s website were enhanced to eradicate the need for paper or printing.
Term deposit booking, loan liquidation, phone number and email updates can now be processed straight-through on the QSP if a customer uses the debit card authentication option. Also, seven additional request types have been added to the QSP to enable customers to transact with the Bank remotely. These requests include: Data update, TIN upload, KYC document upload, Business loan initiation, Part and full loan repayment, Business account opening, and many others.
