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introduction
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Ethical Policy The bank's Partners have
indicated that value should be delivered to them in a
socially responsible manner - a business approach
that fits well with that of the bank's parent, the
Co-operative Group. The Co-operative Group aims to
act honestly, openly and responsibly, as originally
envisaged by the Co-operative movement's founders in
the nineteenth century. The Co-operative Group
produced its second social report in 2001i. However,
unlike ecological sustainability, there is little consensus
regarding what constitutes a socially responsible
business. Therefore, prior to addressing the question
of 'what ethics to embrace', an organisation needs to
decide 'whose ethics to embrace'. To seek an answer
to this dilemma, the bank has repeatedly balloted
customers on a series of ethical policy issues since
1992. The bank chose to ballot customers, not only
because they are numerous (currently 2.24 million) and
represent a good cross section of society, but also
because it is generally their money that is being used,
and they should have a say in how it is used. Follow this link for details of the Ethical Policy review and the results of the Ethical Policy Ballot.
Social responsibility In addition to areas
directly related to the Ethical Policy, the bank reports
on further issues that should be of concern for a
socially responsible business, including equal
opportunities, health and safety and community
involvement. Furthermore, the report contains an
analysis of the impact of two of the bank's campaigns
and strategic alliances. These analyses, chosen and
written by the social auditor, ethics etc..., are designed
to test the bank's claim that its campaigns and societal
engagement activities are more than marketing
devices, and that they actively advance the cause of
social responsibility. This year, ethics etc... has opted to
focus on Climate Change and Combating Financial
Exclusion. Follow this link for the Climate Change essay.
Follow this link for the Combating Financial Exclusion essay.
Developments The bank reports for the first
time on anti-money laundering (follow this link for details of anti-money laundering) and staff wellbeing
(follow this link for details of staff well-being), and has analysed its community
investment according to the London Benchmarking
Group model (follow this link for details on the London
Benchmarking Group). The bank is heavily involved in
two projects seeking to develop sector-specific social
indictors. 'SPI Finance' involves ten financial institutions
from Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa,
Switzerland and the UK, who are working together to
develop Key Social Performance Indicators (KSPIs) for
the financial services industry. The KSPIs will be
incorporated as a sector-specific supplement to the
next issue of the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines.
Similarly, the Co-operative Union is seeking to establish
KSPIs in relation to Co-operative and social goals. The
bank, CIS and the Co-operative Group are providing
technical assistance to the project. The bank will
review the outcome of both projects and consider
integrating suggestions in the 2002 Partnership
Report. Visit the bank's websitei for a full list of the
standards and guidelines considered, and the bank's
involvement in each.
Assurance An assessment of the degree to
which the bank succeeds in delivering value to its
Partners in a socially responsible manner is provided
by Sue Adkins, Director of Cause Related Marketing,
Business in the Community (follow this link for Sue Adkins'
assessment of Social Responsibility). For further
details, please contact Jayne Beer, the bank's
Partnership Adviser
(jayne.beer@co-operativebank.co.uk).
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- www.co-op.co.uk
To follow any of the links mentioned within the Partnership Report 2001, please visit the links page.
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