RBS 2009 Annual Report Download - page 49

47RBS Group Annual Report and Accounts 2009
Corporate Sustainability
Did you know?
2,500
The number of employees
engaged by Fairbridge, a charity
that works with young people in
some of the most disadvantaged
areas in the UK.
Responsible lending
We provide financial services to a number of large global companies
who have operations in areas with potentially high environmental and
social risks. We provide services only to those whose operations meet
all necessary legal requirements and standards set by the relevant
regulatory bodies, and comply with our own environmental, social and
ethical (ESE) risk guidance.
In late 2009, we began a process of reviewing the policies and
procedures we apply to our lending decisions with regard to ESE risk
issues. These policies are aimed at higher risk sectors in which the
bank conducts business, such as oil and gas, and mining and metals.
The ESE Risk Policy Framework will further strengthen the process of
ensuring these issues are taken into consideration in lending and credit
provision decisions.
Community Investment
Helping to rebuild our reputation
The role of Community Investment is to deliver programmes that help
to rebuild the reputation of the Group as a responsible business that
has a sustainable impact upon the communities in which we operate.
To ensure we make our community investments as effective as possible
we focus our resources on a small number of substantial strategic
programmes. These programmes centre around issues which are
important to our businesses and important to our reputation. They
complement the day-to-day activities of our businesses, but enable the
Group to go further on key issues where we believe we have a role and
responsibility to do so. By targeting additional resources through these
programmes, we can make a greater difference to the communities in
which we operate.
Our Group Community Investment programmes relate broadly to
financial education, supporting enterprise and Microfinance and the
charitable endeavours of our employees. In addition to these core
programmes, we run a broad range of other community investment
activities across our businesses. Altogether, we invest more than
£63 million a year in the communities we serve.
MoneySense
Financial education is a key issue under our theme of Fair Banking.
The aim of MoneySense is to increase financial capability and financial
inclusion. A core part of this programme is MoneySense for Schools,
where RBS employees deliver lessons in secondary schools designed to
help young people to manage their money; we provide resources for
teachers to do the same. In 2009, over 700 RBS employees delivered
MoneySense lessons and over one-third of a million pupils were
reached by the programme. MoneySense for Adults offers impartial
guidance on money management through our MoneySense websites,
which receive over 60,000 visitors every month. We also have a range of
partnerships with third sector organisations where we can target support
at vulnerable groups, for example, supporting single-parent families
through Gingerbread.
Supporting enterprise and Microfinance
We are currently building a new Community Investment programme
under the theme of Supporting Enterprise that will significantly enhance
our support for small businesses beyond our mainstream banking
activities. For example, in the UK, we are a Platinum Patron of The Prince’s
Trust. Our support is focused on the Trust’s Business Programme, which
helps young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to explore their
business ideas and provides access to advice, loan funding and the
support of a business mentor, including our employees, when starting
up an enterprise. The Business Programme has helped over 70,000
young people since its inception. In India, our RBS Foundation works
in partnership with third-parties to provide technical assistance to
emerging microfinance institutions in under-served areas and to promote
new economic opportunities for vulnerable communities. Our 48 projects
to date have helped more than 178,000 poor households across India.
The charitable endeavours of our employees
Under the theme of Employee Engagement, we support the charitable
endeavours of our colleagues. We do this in three ways. First, we match
the donations they make to charity via their salary. Second, we make
cash grants to the causes they give their time to, either as volunteers or
fundraisers. By directing our resources in this way we support around
3,800 charities and good causes around the world. Third, we run a
sizeable employee volunteering programme, where we encourage
employees to participate in team-building opportunities during work
time, in partnership with a range of charities. For example, over the last
five years our partnership with Fairbridge, a charity that works with
young people in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the UK, has
engaged over 2,500 RBS employees. In total, more than 50,000 RBS
employees give their skills, time and money to make a difference in the
communities that we operate in. The Group supports those efforts
financially and by giving employees almost 155,000 hours off work to
volunteer each year.