Social responsibility is one of the main themes that arose from the CSR reports. Social responsibility seems to indicate a perception of being accountable to society, people, customers and for instance the aging demographics as key stakeholders. The main driver of social responsibility is to ensure the society’s safety through taking a role in the society, engaging in responsible investments and refrain from criminal stakeholder relations as well as making sure that the core actions of the banks benefit the society in some way. Being an employer is included in social responsibility. Another big theme inside social responsibility is to comply with tax laws and handle tax payments in an undisputed fashion. In general, the theme of social responsibility was reported with terms such as “impact on society”, “local presence and society”, “stakeholder dialogue and engagement” or “relationship banking”.
The reporting about social responsibility in 2012 establishes that it is clearly directed to certain stakeholders. This “relevant stakeholder” aspect of social responsibility is perhaps one of the most important factors that was found from the reports. Relevant stakeholders are defined by surveys or materiality assessments, which then dictate much of the contents of social responsibility reporting. Communities, schools and universities, authorities and for example investors are seen as a part of the social responsibility agenda. This is displayed in the following ways:
“The Group interacts continuously with local communities and collaborates on a wide scale to boost regional vitality” - “The Group complies with laws, standards and regulations and adheres to the principles of honest and fair business everywhere.” – “An important part of OP-Pohjola Group’s operations is continuous training of employees in anti-corruption and anti-bribery policies” (OP Pohjola Group, 2012, 41)
Relations management is in part of taking care of social responsibility. As an example, suppliers are being supervised and managed. Another indication of bearing responsibility to the society by declining criminal relations can be seen here:
“Nordea recently introduced a supplier management system to promote supplier compliance with our values. “ - “In 2012, we took the decision to sell all our holdings in companies that produce or develop illegal and nuclear weapon systems or technologies”
(Nordea Bank, 2012, 12)
As a part of contribution to social responsibility, all banks have adopted processes to engage in financial literacy mentoring. This concept is very broadly covered in all of the year 2012 reports, as financial literacy can be spread in many ways. Some of the emerging new ways are education through internet and other web-based tools. Here are some examples.
“With the launch of the “0-18” online initiative, we expanded our selection of financial literacy initiatives aimed at children, young people and their parents.” - “At Danske Bank, an important part of our corporate responsibility work is educating children and young people about personal finance.” (Danske Bank Group, 2012, 12, 36)
“The Group uses social media (Facebook and Twitter) to increase interaction with customers and as a tool in communicating on financial issues.” (OP Pohjola Group, 2012, 16).
One of the key factors in pursuing to develop social responsibility management, the reports indicate attempts to make broad enhancements in stakeholder dialogue and engagement.
“As part of our responsible banking strategy, Nordea undertakes regular stakeholder consultations to ensure that we are addressing the most material issues for our business.” (Nordea Bank, 2012, 13)
“Responsibility cannot be defined or determined by organisations alone; it is closely related to the needs of stakeholders.” (OP Pohjola Group, 2012, 10)
Year 2013 reporting consists of roughly the same concepts of carrying out the social responsibility objectives. The concepts include addressing communities, financial literacy mentoring, engaging stakeholders and for instance taking part in responsible investments.
Apart from the reporting concepts being the same, some of them include differences and new approaches as opposed to the previous year. The most important developments and changes will be presented next.
Being part of the local community has been reported in a broader way according to the 2013 CSR reports. The same also applies to financial literacy mentoring reporting. Moreover,
“local presence” and “society” are increasingly addressed with more details about how this part of social responsibility is being taken care of. This includes implications how constituents of the society may have benefited from banks practicing this kind of social responsibility. For example, Nordea Bank has dedicated a page full of practical examples how they have philanthropically taking part in the communities around the world during year 2013. A few examples are listed below.
“OP-Pohjola donated one million euros for the construction of a new children’s hospital”
- “OP-Pohjola is involved in a pro bono youth programme of the President of the Republic of Finland.” (OP Pohjola Group, 2013, 12)
“In 2013, Nordea in Finland partnered with Me & MyCity, an award-winning organisation based on the Finnish school curriculum that promotes entrepreneurship early in life, giving children an understanding of the different roles and functions in society.” (Nordea Bank, 2013, 27)
It is becoming clearer that the two bigger banks, OP Pohjola Group and Nordea Bank, tackle the social impact issues with a larger descriptive approach. Danske Bank seems to remain in its fairly standardized form of reporting about core social responsibility initiatives and hasn’t developed relatively as much. Danske Banks reporting includes more numeric data about how they have economically benefited the society through tax payments, salaries, loans and net profit.
“As a bank, we play a fundamental role in society. By reallocating capital from lenders to borrowers, we enable families, businesses and institutions to make investments and create growth.” (Danske Bank Group, 2013, 14).
On a side note, Danske Bank also includes chapters such as “Social Dilemma” in their CSR report, addressing conflicts of interests. This may have negative connotations, and this kind of chapter in the social responsibility section is not included in Nordea Bank’s or OP Pohjola Group’s CSR reports.
The visible reporting about stakeholder engagements has also increased. Stakeholder management as a part of social responsibility can be seen reported as more as just according to the GRI index indicators. For example, Nordea has started to list their stakeholder groups and elaborate their stakeholder management approach and materiality analysis in various ways, combining processes such as responsible leadership in stakeholder management practices. OP Pohjola Group has remained in their materiality assessment reporting protocol, introducing no clear new developments.
Nordea lists 7 individual stakeholder groups, explains methods of engagements, tracks participation and reports about stakeholder survey outside of the specific GRI report.
(Nordea Bank, 2013, 12)
OP Pohjola Group lists 9 individual stakeholder groups and elaborates their materiality assessments in order to manage stakeholders responsibly and communicate a socially responsible way of reporting. (OP Pohjola Group, 2013, 19)
The last year (2014) of reporting themes regarding the social responsibility aspect of CSR also continue to follow the same concepts as previous years. For example, role in the society, importance of paying taxes, stakeholder engagement and customer satisfaction remain on the same levels of importance. Some of the reported concepts remain unchanged, some of them have received additional levels of reporting. Perceived important developments in the reporting will be represented next.
The role in the society remains as one of the top priority reporting aspects in the year 2014.
However, displayed reporting about presence and role in the society has greatly increased, partly perhaps because of the new integrated reporting models or other structural changes in the banks’ CSR departments. For example, more space and pages have been dedicated for reporting about benevolent actions and contributions in the society. Moreover, new infographics and visual data models about how the bank is impacting on society in all of the researched banks reports have increased. Furthermore, some new aspects, such as reporting about the firm’s own construction projects around the country in order to increase the amount of offered work in Finland has been mentioned in the CSR report.
“Our unique corporate identity and operations that emphasise community spirit have always played a key role in our success. As a capital and insurance provider and partner, we take responsibility for the sustainable development of our operating environment.”
(OP Financial Group, 2014, 41)
“OP Financial Group has firm roots in Finnish society, and prospering together is a key value for OP “ - “… In these economically challenging times, we have offered a significant amount of work: the Vallila project requires about 2,000 manyears to complete.” (OP Financial Group, 2014, 44, 47)
The development seems to indicate that social responsibility is reported more diversely every year by including more specific information about welfare-enhancing processes and practices. Some of the proliferated approaches to report social responsibility, such as reporting about the fight against cybercrime, can be seen below as examples:
“Nordea adds value to the communities in which we operate by lending to and investing in infrastructure projects that enhance the community.” - “…Moving forward, we will continue to invest in IT solutions to address the growing risks of cybercrime.” (Nordea Bank, 2014, 19)
The diversified approaches of reporting social responsibility has also included the responsibility of educating immigrants who have been integrated to a local community as a part of the financial literacy mentoring.
“Young female immigrants with an academic background participate in a training programme with a personal mentor in an effort to develop a professional network that will further their careers.” (Danske Bank Group, 2014, 20)
In conclusion, the year 2014 of reporting about the theme of social responsibility seems to suggest that the approaches to report different concepts are increasing and that the overall quality and broadness of assessment of the reports are growing.