The FINANCIAL — Bank Republic, one of the leading banks in Georgia, is actively engaging in different CSR activities. Regarding CSR, Bank Republic’s motto is to Care, to Share and to Respect.
“CSR should be of great value in the banking industry since we have a special role and responsibility financing the country’s eco¬nomy. Consequently, banks play a social role in the local economy. Indeed, it’s essential that banks pay attention to people in need of resource. In this regard, Bank Republic is involved in micro-len¬ding activities in favour of very small businesses and start-ups and is also engaged in issuing student loans, and mortgage loans thus enabling people to obtain the better education and live in more comfortable houses at expectable prices,” said Gilbert Hie, CEO of Bank Republic, Societe Generale Group.
“CSR is also about not doing things which are socially unwelcome. Bank Republic does not lend to industries linked to weapons, arms, drugs, or pollution. We are against the financing of old or used cars imported illegally because of their danger on the roads and increased risk of accidents,” Hie declared.
On the deposits side, Bank Republic also has important developments going on. Concerning anti-money laundering, the Bank is very careful of the way it treats transactions to avoid any case of money launde¬ring.
“BR cooperates actively with other international organi¬zations including the EBRD, IFC and KFW. These institutions have strong requirements that the money they lend should not be used for financing arms and weapons, alcoholic products and drugs,” Hie added.
“It is clear that part of CSR is to protect the borrowers against all kinds of risks. The insurance solutions we provide to our borrowers are safeguar¬ding them from risk linked to their lives. In the future we need to develop more and more in terms of insurance products, in order to protect our stakeholders,” declared Hie.
“Bank Republic is sharing its corporate social responsibility towards the customers, staff, stakeholders, suppliers, environment, charity, sponsors¬hip and a society as a whole. BR, being a member of SG Group, which has quite large experience in this respect, shares CSR and submits its social contribution within the scope of 10 CSR principles conducted by Global Compact,” Hie said.
Q. Regarding CSR, Bank Republic’s motto is to Care, to Share and to Respect. What are the activities and directions done at BR within the CSR framework?
A. Bank Republic implements this motto in its everyday operations. We do care and respect the surrounding citizens to develop business and secure significant benefits for the society. We believe that attention to corporate responsibility is essential to creating and sustaining value for shareholders. Corporate responsibility is about business behaviour and earning the trust and loyalty of our stakeholders. Corporate Social Responsibility is a concept not an obligation. CSR is implemented fully on a voluntary basis according to which the social context of business is very important. The way you’re applying the corporate social responsibility is very much dependant on the size of the company and the business you’re doing.
The level of culture and well-being in Georgia is directly linked to the right utilization of the social responsibilities by the private sector. BR already established a social policy concept for the years to come and all social and charity programmes are executed in accordance with this long-term corporate strategy of the Bank. Till today, BR has actively executed various CSR projects the ultimate goal of which was the proper, duly and timely support and assistance to those who truly and utterly needed it.
Q. Bank Republic is a member of the Global Compact in Georgia of the United Nations Organization. How does Global Compact and members of the organization contribute to CSR in their organizations?
A. Bank Republic, in the sphere of social responsibility, is an active member of the UN Global Compact programme in Georgia. Sustainable development issues are addressed within Société Générale Group’s various business lines. A banking Group such as Société Générale primarily implements its Corporate Social Responsibility policy by means of the products and services it develops and the markets it chooses to explore. Bank Republic determines CSR as a way of addressing environmental, social and economic challenges in all of its activities. Global Compact gives an opportunity to BR to share its experience with business society, to communicate about BR socially responsible business to other leading companies that are members of Global Compact and to get acquainted with others’ experiences and practices in the same field.
The Global Compact network implements the main goal to integrate the understanding of general CSR concept and principles to companies interested. Companies have started to understand the basic means and importance of CSR and observe the 10 principles developed by the Global Compact.
Members of CG started to share and introduce their CSR activities, attracted additional companies interested in this filed, including media, with its role on how to promote and broadcast CSR activities in the right way.
Q. One of the activities within the framework of Bank Republic is to support children and students. What activities are done for youngsters?
A. Bank Republic permanently shares Corporate Social Responsibility towards the whole society. The CSR actions are regularly implemented by the Bank to secure additional benefits for youth.
An exhibition for refugees, orphans and disabled children has been implemented for 2 consecutive years at BR branches where the artworks of needy children were displayed, thus giving to these children the opportunity to promote their talents and interest in artworks and get rewards for that.
Bank Republic is very active in cooperation with various educational institutions in Georgia. BR supports students with affordable and applicable solutions for financing their studies through student loans. Also we are organizing job fares. We finance MBA programmes and provide internships for students.
Within the projects of CSR Bank Republic has been supporting advanced and talented students with their carrier and qualification development.
Q. Bank Republic donated blood and equipment for children suffering from Leukaemia. What was the aim of this campaign and how have the employees of Bank Republic supported the children?
A. Societe Generale annually schedules and implements the special Citizenship Commitment Week within the frames of CSR and the employees of all subsidiaries in 82 countries voluntarily render assistance to the programmes with wide scopes, creating incentives for environment-friendly, healthy lifestyles, supporting those who are in need and who require our help.
It is already the third year that Bank Republic has been engaged in Citizenship Commitment Week. BR employees have implemented the most critical assistance programmes and have donated blood to children suffering from Leukemia at Iashvili children’s hospital, hoping to render relief to the kids who are undergoing the long process of cancer treatment.
In addition to that, the Bank, by its own will, purchased the most necessary equipment for the clinic thus facilitating its functioning and easing the curing process.
We are very happy that we can somehow render relief to children in severe conditions. When considering the CSR directions, we deemed support for this clinic the most essential one. We pre-investigated the global situation in the clinic and tried to do our best to supply the proper equipment. Around 50 persons from the staff, on their own, donated blood to the children. Bank Republic will continue social projects, and support and assist the vulnerable segment of society.
Q. Human Resource represents one of the fields of CSR, what activities are done within the framework of Human Resource Management at BR?
A. The most important thing in HR Management is to have steady policy, without ups and downs. HR Management can be detrimental for the image of the company, efficiency, morale and motivation.
The aspect of staff development and training is one of the main issues in CSR. It’s not a charity, but a process of giving an opportunity to the employees to share. In the banking industry it is easier to develop than in other sectors. We are organizing seminars abroad as we have the chance to belong to an international group. We have a special staff aid programme which entails helping employees who are going through tough days of their lives. We offer health insurance to our employees, which cover all the health problems for their families. BR has a code of conduct and a Book of Ethics. It’s important to know that our staff’s behaviour corresponds to banking ethics.
For boosting employee motivation, we implement the BR Awards Programme. In the scope of the staff achievement recognition scheme, employees are awarded for the best business results, innovation and outstanding performance in different projects, and best scores in qualification testing.
BR employees are granted the opportunity to subscribe to SG shares with preferential conditions. Together with the discounted price granted by SG, BR provided employees with matching contribution.
Bank Republic in Human Resources matters successfully mainstreamed SG values with its daily actions and endeavours and will continue in the same spirit.
Q. Environmental protection is one of the activities within the framework of CSR. How does Bank Republic support environment protection? What energy efficiency technologies are implemented at BR?
A. Bank Republic is s member of the modern world thus really trying to keep abreast with the energy efficiency and environmental friendly solutions and technologies. We work together with SG in protecting the environment and saving energy consumption. It includes water, gas, paper, etc. We are preparing a planet report on a regular basis. It is part of the global compact rules of CSR in the world. We report on the amount of consumption to show what kind of progress we make every year in each energy usage. The price of gas in Georgia is more expensive than before, but cheaper than in other European countries. Whatever the price is we should consume less. If the price is higher it will encourage everybody to tighten the unnecessary waste of energy. We do sectorial analysis. Now we are studying different options for using alternative sources of energy. It could be a wind energy. 95% of the heating cost in our IT centre of SG in France is recycled. It’s the result of yearlong work and effort. In Georgia we’re at the beginning stage of this process.
Bank Republic takes full responsibility for allocation of its outlets and leads a strategy of network development while taking care of environ¬mental factors, pollution and human health precautions. Conducting transparent business is a major tool for Bank Republic’s image and reputation.
Corporate social responsibility is a concept where the purpose is not solely focused on attaining the best financial results but on positi¬vely influencing the employment, social and natural environment. According to the concept, the innovative content and role of business enterprise in global society has been recognized.
The profound issue for development of business and country mainly is to keep and advance the environment. In this particular case envi¬ronment does not cover only the gist of competitions and market, but conveys the definition of social, cultural and “natural” environment.
Q. During the post-war period Bank Republic focused it’s efforts on IDPs. What activities have been done for supporting IDPs?
A. As a result of August 2008’s events, the attention of major companies or even individuals was focused on the support of victims of the war. In the scope of charity, BR really did a lot. 500,000 GEL was allocated for support of war victims through BR charity fund Tsiskari. A special account was opened for BR staff and clients to contribute to for the relief of the victims.
BR staff collected clothes and food for needy people suffering from the war. It was teamwork that was part of our concept of Corporate Social Responsibility. In fact CSR is not only corporate; it is coming from the individuals too. As companies are formed by individuals, their behaviour is the main driver, and then comes professional behaviour, which is another driver. As we already mentioned, CSR is to care, share and respect each other – and this is the practice applied by BR and the whole SG Group. Due to this hard time, employees of SG HQ, under their own initiative, collected 400 kg. Of clothes and sent them to Georgia to support these people.
Q. BR was awarded by Golden Brand in the nominee of CSR several times. In your opinion, how does your brand attract consumers?
A. We constantly develop our corporate responsibility which is essential for creating and sustaining value for the whole society. In recent years, we made significant progress in pursuit of the objective that Bank Repu¬blic should be a leading company in this field. Corporate responsibi¬lity is about business behaviour and earning the trust and loyalty of our stakeholders. It was encouraging that in 2008 and 2009 continual years Bank Republic won the Golden Brand Award for Corporate Social Responsibility and was ranked as the socially responsible “Golden Brand”.
The CSR concept is very important and will always be an interesting priority for us.
Q. Which products are popular with corporate clients at BR? What are the special offers on at BR?
A. In 2009, great attention was devoted to CSR activities at BR. The Bank supported its corporate customers since EBRD allocated a 5 million USD credit line to Bank Republic for energy efficiency financing. In terms of the financial crisis, the project of energy efficiency contributed to saving amounts. Credits for energy efficiency from Bank Republic were issued to corporate clients, renewable energy projects and individuals keen to save energy.
BR provided significant offers to big businesses with sound financial status and rational plans. We rendered valuable assistance to them and established long-term cooperation. BR applied its competitive edge by financing the big companies and securing for them with the possibility to establish strong trade relations with any international company in the Société Générale network.
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