Creating a Sustainable Future

The Bank has a holistic understanding of sustainability – creating value for all the stakeholders sustainably in the short, medium and long term. By ensuring that its overall performance continues to be strengthened into the future based on the strategic imperatives of prudent growth, customer centricity, leading by innovation and operational excellence, while also being keenly aware of the impact of its operations on the environment and society, the Bank is able to combine and strengthen the strands that determine its sustained performance. The Bank is conscious of the needs of all its stakeholders and continues to responsibly deliver value to them.

The profitability of the Bank is a key determinant of its future well-being and the extent to which the Bank is able to deliver value to its diverse stakeholders. In order for the Bank to successfully deliver this value proposition, it promotes integrated thinking within the Organisation by creating awareness among its staff of the role they play in this process. Social and environmental considerations are integrated into all the Bank’s core business activities while employees are encouraged to pursue activities that range from responsible lending, investments, new product development, procurement etc. to social and environmental initiatives such as recycling, use of renewable energy, and the support of culture, health, and education etc. This ensures that the Bank successfully achieves its role as an intermediary by balancing the interests of stakeholders and optimising the trade-off between risk and return.

The Social and Environmental Management System (SEMS), an integral part of the loan approval process, is pivotal for managing the Bank’s risk profile and making the lending and investment activities responsible. It evaluates the feasibility of projects based on cash flows while also screening all business and project loans to ensure that they are monitored on an ongoing basis. This process has proved to be efficient in helping entrepreneurs and customers maintain the sustainability of their operations. In addition, the Bank also offers facilities for the adoption of environment-friendly technologies on concessionary terms and conditions.

Positioned in an industry that is subject to regular scrutiny of regulatory authorities where it operates, the Bank complies with all stipulated regulations. These compliance responsibilities are given the highest priority and are abided by in word and spirit. During the year, no significant gaps, lapses, or inaccuracies were observed in this regard.

Stemming from a culture of integrated thinking, the Bank also has a Code of Conduct that states expected behaviour among the staff with regard to ethics, conduct, and compliance. This ensures that a culture of overall well-being is sustained for all. The Supplier Code of Conduct also maintains certain regulations with regard to compliance and to social and environmental considerations across the supplier value chain as well. Furthermore, the Bank continued to deliver value to its customers by providing myriad banking products and services through an expanding network of 285 branches, 850 ATMs, Business Promotion Officers and an array of digital channels, with benchmarked service standards and streamlined internal processes.

The Bank also demonstrates its future-centricity by gradually incorporating disruptive technologies into its offerings. These dynamic solutions ensure that the Bank delivers value to its customers, thereby deriving their continued trust and reinforcing its leadership position in the industry.