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The Co-operative Bank*
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Delivering Value |  Indicators |  Partnership Report 2002 |  Our Performance |  Home
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Introduction >>
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 Ethical and Ecological Value Analysis
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Social Responsibility
 Ecological Sustainability

Financial Statements 2002

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Delivering Value : Introduction
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the partnership approach
The Co-operative Bank aims to deliver value to all its Partners in a balanced fashion over time, where 'value' is defined by the Partner, not the bank. The bank is seeking to enhance the utility enjoyed by those groups on which its business is dependent. This is what makes the bank's Partnership Approach a genuine triple bottom line sustainability strategy (ethics, ecology and value). True corporate sustainability relies not only on delivering social responsibility and ecological sustainability, but also on satisfying the desires and needs of a range of Partners.

Ascertaining priorities Determining the views of Partners, such as shareholders, suppliers, customers, staff and co-operators, is relatively straightforward; research is usually carried out via a combination of focus groups, postal questionnaires, telephone and internet surveys. With regard to 'local communities' and 'national and international society', the bank seeks the opinions of charities and campaigning groups as trusted proxy representatives. Community involvement accounting and reporting continues to evolve in line with Business in the Community's i understanding of best practice (follow this link to the Community section). With regard to wider societal interests, the bank is guided by its Ethical Policy, the most recent consultation on which was carried out in 2002 (follow this link for details of the Ethical Policy Review). In relation to Co-operators, the bank has to date been guided by the deliberations of the European Community of Consumer Co-operatives ii; however, going forward, reference will be made to the work of Co-operatives UK's Social and Co-operative Performance Panel, as described in the Co-operators section (Key Social Performance Indicators).

Developments In this sixth Report, the bank provides a year-on-year analysis of the financial costs and benefits of its pursuit of sustainable development (Follow this link to the Ethical and Ecological Value Analysis). This has enabled the bank to more fully account for and disclose the contribution made by the bank's ethical and environmental positioning. The bank also provides a year-on-year analysis of the provision of personal and business banking in 'deprived areas' (follow this link for the Personal current account profile & follow this link for details of small business support in deprived areas). In line with SPI Finance (see Partnership Approach: Leadership), this year, for the first time, the bank reports on staff satisfaction with communication (follow this link to Staff Performance Indicators) Follow this link for a description of economic 'Value Added' iii. Follow this link for a full list of the standards and guidelines considerediv, and the bank's involvement in each.

Assurance An assessment of the degree to which the bank succeeds in delivering value to its Partners is provided by Mark Goyder, Director of the Centre for Tomorrow's Company , follow this link to the assessment of Delivering Valuev. For further details, please contact Jayne Beer, Partnership Manager (jayne.beer@co-operativebank.co.uk). 		*
  1. www.bitc.org.uk
  2. www.eurocoop.org
  3. www.co-operativebank.co.uk/ethics/partnership2002/pr/value_added.html
  4. www.co-operativebank.co.uk/ethics/partnership2002/pr/standards.html
  5. www.tomorrowscompany.com
To follow any of the links mentioned within the Partnership Report 2002, please visit the links page.
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The above data and commentary has been audited by ethics etc...
Data, commentary and performance assured in accordance with AA1000as.