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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. 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 2.23 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 to read the final
results of the most recent 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 diversity,
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 the Cluster Bombs campaign and the Ethical
Purchasing Index. To view the campaign analyses follow this link.
Developments The bank provides for the first
time a detailed breakdown of the rationale behind each
of the instances where business was declined in 2002
as a result of its Ethical Policy (follow this link to the Finance page). The bank also
now provides details of the proportion of ethnic
minority staff at different organisational levels (follow this link to the Diversity page). Measurement of the quality and impact of the
bank's community involvement has improved in recent
years, and this year for the first time the bank begins to
analyse how donations to affinity partners effect real
change on the ground (follow this link to the Community page). During 2002, the
bank has been heavily involved in two projects seeking
to develop sector-specific social indicators. 'SPI
Finance' i involves ten financial institutions from
Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa,
Switzerland and the UK, who have worked together to
develop Key Social Performance Indicators (KSPIs) for
the financial services industry. The KSPIs have been
incorporated as a consultative sector-specific
supplement to the Global Reporting Initiative ii
guidelines. Similarly, Co-operatives UK has sought to
establish KSPIs in relation to Co-operative and social
goals. The bank, CIS and the Co-operative Group have
provided technical assistance to the project. The bank
has operationalised virtually all of the requirements of
each standard in this year's Partnership Report. Visit
the bank's website iii 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, Business in the Community iv
To read the assessment follow this link. For further details, please contact
Jayne Beer, Partnership Manager (jayne.beer@co-operativebank.co.uk).
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- www.spifinance.com
- www.globalreporting.org
- www.co-operativebank.co.uk/ethics/partnership2002/pr/standards.html
- www.bitc.org.uk
To follow any of the links mentioned within the Partnership Report 2002, please visit the links page.
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