RBS 2012 Annual Report Download - page 36

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Governance
Sustainability at RBS is built on a robust
governance framework that provides clarity
around the development of our strategic
sustainability objectives. The Group Sustainability
Committee (GSC) is a Group Board Committee,
chaired by our Senior Independent Director,
Sandy Crombie. It consists of independent
non-executive directors and all key business
areas are represented at Committee meetings
and the Group Chairman is also invited to
attend. The GSC has overseen some
progressive developments within the company.
In 2012, the GSC focused on reviewing the
Group’s overall sustainability strategy, values
and policies and aligning the Group’s
approach to ethical, social and environmental
issues. In 2013, the scope will widen to include
sustainability and reputational issues related to
customer and citizenship activities; oversight of
the delivery of the Group purpose, vision and
values cultural and behavioural change; and
oversight of the sustainability aspects of the
people agenda. The renewed GSC will also be
responsible for overseeing and challenging
how management is addressing sustainability
and reputational issues relating to all
stakeholder groups. For more information on
the GSC or sustainability visit
rbs.com/sustainable.
Stakeholder engagement
Balancing the needs of stakeholders means
understanding the views of all those who have
an interest in our business. As an international
company we have many stakeholders and
we engage with them in a variety of ways.
These discussions inform decision making
across the Group.
The GSC took part in three stakeholder
sessions in 2012 on our themes of:
Citizenship and environment;
Supporting enterprise; and
Employee engagement.
WWF, the Tax Justice Network, Transparency
International, Big Issue Invest, the
Confederation of British Industry and Unite
are just a few of the groups that attended.
These sessions are an open forum for
organisations to present the issues they
most care about to the senior people from
RBS who sit on the GSC. We do not set the
agenda. Others do that and we go out of our
way to involve people who are highly and
constructively critical of RBS. We will hold more
of these sessions as a clear illustration of our
commitment to our openness to stakeholders.
Sustainability policy development
Addressing risks arising from Environmental,
Social and Ethical (ESE) issues is an integral
part of meeting our commitment to becoming
a more responsible business. Over the last two
years we have updated and improved our
policy framework. We increased the
transparency and disclosure of our business
risk appetite and developed ESE policies for
four sensitive sectors: defence, oil and gas,
mining and metals, and forestry. These policies
have been fully implemented and follow a clear
governance structure and decision making
process involving divisional Reputational Risk
forums throughout the business. New policies
for the Power Generation and Gambling
sectors are currently being implemented, with
further sector-specific policies also being
considered. ESE reviews involve an
assessment of a company's commitment,
capacity and track record in managing ESE
risks. We assessed our clients and transactions
against the relevant ESE risk criteria and found
that our risk management systems are in good
health. A web-based training tool on our ESE
policies was launched in 2012. This training
was compulsory for all staff working in the
relevant divisions and can also be accessed by
all RBS Group staff to ensure they understand
the Group’s ESE policies.
Our policy making also incorporates a number
of voluntary global standards. We are
members of the Equator Principles and follow
its environmental and social impact
assessment criteria in our Project Finance
lending. We are also members of the UN
Global Compact (UNGC) which brings
companies together with UN agencies, labour
organisations and civil society to support
human rights, labour rights, the environment
and anti-corruption. We adhere to the ten
UNGC Principles and report against these
each year.
A full sustainability update will be provided
in our 2012 Sustainability Report, published
in April 2013.
Sustainability
We want to build a good company and a good bank.
Sustainability is central to achieving this goal and to
making sure that the misconduct of the past is
not repeated.