RBS 2012 Annual Report Download - page 349

RBS GROUP 2012
347
This approach to inclusion extends to the marketplace with the RBS
Women in Business specialists supporting and guiding more and more
women to take the step of starting their own business.
Performance is monitored and reviewed at Group and divisional level and
RBS remains supportive of the recommendations of Lord Davies’ Report.
There are currently three female directors on the Board out of a total of
12, which meets Lord Davies’ aspirational target of 25 per cent female
Board representation. As at 31 December 2012, 19 per cent of
executives in the Group and 55 per cent of employees were female.
Further details on the Board diversity policy can be found at
www.rbs.com
This year the Group has been recognised for its work on Equality,
Diversity and Inclusion by retaining our Gold standard ranking from
Opportunity Now (gender), achieving Silver for Race for Opportunity
(race), attaining the Top Employers award for employee engagement
from workingmums.co.uk as well as securing a position in the Working
Families Top 10.
Safety, health and wellbeing
Ensuring the safety, health and wellbeing of employees and customers is
an important responsibility for the Group.
The Group is committed to ensuring legal compliance and managing
health and safety risks. During 2012, increased focus on leadership,
governance and the effectiveness of controls delivered improvements in
health and safety performance.
A wide range of health benefits and services are in place to help
employees maintain good physical and psychological health, and support
them if they do become unwell. A number of these services have been
enhanced and promoted in response to the impact of the economic
environment. For example, in 2012 we launched an online toolkit which
provides easy access to a range of resources, provided through our
Employee Assistance Programme, to help employees deal with stress,
build resilience and manage personal finances.
Pre-employment screening
The Group has a comprehensive pre-employment screening process to
guard against possible infiltration and employee-related fraud for all direct
and non-direct staff engaged on Group business.
Code of conduct
The code of conduct applies to everyone who works for RBS. It promotes
honest and ethical conduct, including the handling of actual or apparent
conflicts of interest between personal and professional relationships. The
Group recognises that personal conduct, business integrity and the
Group’s security are crucial, and the code of conduct serves to inform
those who work for the Group of its expectations of their behaviour and
practices.
The code of conduct is available on the Group’s website www.rbs.com
and will also be provided to any person without charge, upon request, by
contacting RBS Secretariat at the telephone number listed on page 539.
Sustainability
The long term success of the Group relies on being safe, strong and
sustainable. This underpins everything that RBS does and enables the
Group to play a central role within society that enables people to run their
daily lives and businesses. This, in turn, supports economic growth and
brings wider benefits to society. There are further opportunities for the
Group to build on this and explore ways in which we can create additional
value for all stakeholder groups. For more information on the Group
Sustainability programme, see pages 33 to 35.
Sustainability is therefore not just about the many responsibilities and
obligations that the Group has in a legal sense, but is about broad issues
that need to be addressed to ensure that the Group is a healthy and
respected business operating on a sustainable basis.
Sustainability is central to the way the Group is managed. The Group
Sustainability Committee is responsible for overseeing and challenging
how management is addressing sustainability and reputation issues
relating to all stakeholder groups and reports to the Board. For more
information on the Committee, see page 307.
Going concern
The Group’s business activities and financial position, the factors likely to
affect its future development and performance and its objectives and
policies in managing the financial risks to which it is exposed and its
capital are discussed in the Business review. The risk factors which could
materially affect the Group’s future results are set out on pages 503 to
515. The Group’s regulatory capital resources and significant
developments in 2012 and anticipated future developments are detailed
on pages 128 to 136. The liquidity and funding section on pages 137 to
156, describes the Group’s funding and liquidity profile, including
changes in key metrics, the build up of liquidity reserves and the outlook
for 2013.
Having reviewed the Group’s forecasts, projections and other relevant
evidence, the directors have a reasonable expectation that the Group and
the company will continue in operational existence for the foreseeable
future. Accordingly, the financial statements of the Group and of the
company have been prepared on a going concern basis.
BBA disclosure code
In September 2010, the British Bankers’ Association published its Code
for Financial Reporting Disclosure. The code sets out five disclosure
principles together with supporting guidance. The principles are that the
Group and other major UK banks will provide high quality, meaningful
and decision-useful disclosures; review and enhance their financial
instrument disclosures for key areas of interest to market participants;
assess the applicability and relevance of good practice recommendations
to their disclosures acknowledging the importance of such guidance;
seek to enhance the comparability of financial statement disclosures
across the UK banking sector; and clearly differentiate in their annual
reports between information that is audited and information that is
unaudited. The Group’s 2012 financial statements have been prepared in
compliance with the code’s principles.