Sustainable development objectives are broad and, in order to deliver them, organisations must focus on specific issues. One way to do this is through indicators, which quantify and illustrate the important issues. Return on equity, profit before taxation and cost/income ratios are widely recognised as key financial indicators of business performance. They are broad-brush, highly aggregated statistics, which summarise the overall picture. Organisations use indicators to determine business strategy and stakeholders use them to judge how well a business is performing. The bank intends that the indicators within this Report should be used in the same way; that is, to inform strategic decisions within the business and to help Partners assess whether, when judged against the benchmarks presented in this Report, the bank is achieving the broader objectives of sustainable development. Of course, conflicts of interest will arise; for example, situations where progressing one indicator will mean hindering development of another. Judgements, therefore, need to be made by Partners about how to reconcile the benefits of delivering value, social responsibility and ecological sustainability.
Choosing SMART indicators
According to conventional business wisdom, indicators should meet a number of criteria referred to as SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. Whilst endorsing these general characteristics, the bank also believes that:
For details of how the bank's 69 indicators relate to various emerging standards and guidelines, please refer to the bank's website i. Follow this link for a concise picture of how the bank has performed over time against its key performance indicators.
Results
This is the fifth consecutive year in which the bank has provided independently audited data and commentary showing how far it has succeeded in delivering value to Partners in an ecologically sound and socially responsible manner. Of the 65 targets set last year, the bank has fully achieved 43, made acceptable progress against 15 and has not yet achieved 7. Broadly speaking, the bank is satisfied with these latest results; particularly considering how far it has progressed since 1997. But, of course, there is always room for improvement, which is why in this section there are also details of the 62 new targets set for 2002.
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Late in 2001, the bank embarked upon a fourth Ethical Policy consultation, its largest ever.
The review involved two million bank customers, and is possibly the largest piece of ethical consultation undertaken in the world.
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