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Monitoring
our progress

Monitoring our progress

Our corporate responsibility (CR) governance framework and assurance processes help us to closely monitor our investments and initiatives and measure their effectiveness.

LEADERSHIP FROM THE TOP

Progress made on programs and initiatives that support our CR targets and objectives is reported annually to ANZ’s Board of Directors.

Each Board Committee is assigned formal responsibility for specific aspects of our CR strategy. For example, the Risk Committee has oversight and formal responsibility for management of new and emerging risks including social, environmental and reputation risk (responsible practices). The Human Resources Committee is responsible for ensuring we have adequate processes in place to attract and retain the best talent, engage and develop our people and provide a safe working environment (education and employment opportunities).

As well, the framework that is used to evaluate the performance of each of our Non-Executive Directors is based on the expectation that each Director is performing their duties, including having due regard to our CR objectives, and the importance of ANZ's relationships with all its stakeholders and the communities and environments in which ANZ operates.

At the executive management level, our CR Committee (CRC) is chaired by our CEO and comprised of Group executives. The Committee meets bi-monthly to discuss the most material risks and opportunities for advancing our CR agenda.

PUBLIC TARGETS DRIVE RESULTS

Each year our CRC and executive management team endorse a number of public targets which aim to address gaps, and highlight areas where we can better use our skills and resources to make a significant contribution to society.

We have also developed a range of policies, processes, tools, training programs and other initiatives to support staff to make balanced, informed and transparent decisions. For example, each year all employees are required to complete mandatory online training under the 'ANZ Essentials' risk accreditation framework covering topics such as money laundering, equal opportunity, health and safety, fraud, corruption and bribery. Our 'Welcome to ANZ' training module provides an overview of our CR framework and tests the 'user' on scenarios and outcomes in applying our framework in practice.

As a core value for our business, we promote the principle of accountability among our people, requiring employees to 'own their own actions' and make decisions that align with our economic, social, environmental and ethical responsibilities, and challenge those that are not in the best interests of the bank and our stakeholders.

We use a balanced scorecard evaluation of corporate indicators (including social and environmental) to determine performance-related compensation for all managers and senior executives, including our CEO. These measures are aligned with the achievement of ANZ’s business plan, and over time have proven the most appropriate indicators of performance.

ASSURANCE

We have applied the AA1000 Accountability Principles Standard (AA1000APS – 2008) in the preparation of our 2011 reporting. Corporate Citizenship has provided an external assurance statement in keeping with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE 3000) and the Accountability Assurance Standard (AA1000AS – 2008).
See anz.com/assurance.

REPORTING AT ANZ

Our website anz.com contains detailed information about ANZ and our approach to CR, including our programs and initiatives, performance against our targets, and our approach to governance, stakeholder engagement and decision-making.

We undertake consultation and engagement with stakeholders throughout the year to determine the content of our reporting. Our approach is also informed by international frameworks and standards such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Guidelines (including the Financial Services Sector Supplement) and the UN Global Compact.

ANZ uses the London Benchmarking Group (LBG) framework for measuring and reporting community contributions and achievements. Haystac Positive Outcomes has provided a verification statement which is available at anz.com/lbg.

WE ENGAGE, LISTEN AND RESPOND

We engage with our stakeholders continuously, and listen and respond to the issues and opportunities they identify.

What we learn from stakeholders, including our toughest critics, helps us to:

  • better understand the issues that matter to our communities
  • refine our policies and practices
  • foresee emerging trends
  • identify opportunities for new products and services.

Vuko Jabucanin, Customer Service Consultant

Vuko Jabucanin, Customer Service Consultant
We provide multiple channels for customers to tell us what they think, including by phone and online at anz.com.

EXAMPLES OF OUR COMMITMENT TO STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

CUSTOMERS
  • Commissioned 50 separate pieces of customer research, including focus groups, in-depth interviews and experimental pilots with customers to develop and refine products and services they most desire.
  • Launched ANZ’s 'Your Say' online customer panel, which more than 6,000 customers have registered to join.
COMMUNITY
  • Engaged with NGOs and other stakeholders across Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific to help assess and improve our assistance for customers facing financial difficulty; improve service accessibility for people with disability; extend our flagship financial education and capability programs; and develop our skilled volunteering program.
  • Engaged with Oxfam, Greenpeace, World Wildlife Fund Australia (WWF), The Wilderness Society, The Uniting Church Australia, Australian Conservation Foundation and other stakeholder organisations in Australia to better understand their views on social and environmental issues in our lending portfolio.
STAFF
  • Conducted the annual global 'My Voice' employee survey to measure staff engagement and gain staff input into areas for improvement.
  • Launched a 'Sister Branch Program', which pairs every branch across our super regional network with another, to encourage staff to connect with their colleagues.
GOVERNMENTS
AND REGULATORS
  • Prepared submissions for Federal parliament inquiries into credit reforms, small business lending and banking competition.
  • Provided submissions to the Parliamentary inquiry into Australia's trade and investment relationship with Japan and the Republic of Korea, and for the negotiations towards an Indonesia – Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA).
INVESTORS
  • Held a 'Strategy Update', to inform investors about the next phase of ANZ’s transformation.
  • Engaged proactively with the financial markets including analysts and fund managers to discuss Group performance and any emerging issues for the Group.
SUPPLIERS
  • Held workshops with suppliers in Australia, and consulted with the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) to develop a global approach to monitoring and improving our security service providers' performance on human rights.
  • Worked with our two most significant print partners, to incorporate carbon estimates into all print quotations.

OUR APPROACH IN ACTION – ENERGY

We are the banker to a number of companies in the energy sector and recognise the importance of playing a significant role in supporting the Australian economy as it transitions to a lower carbon future. However, we also recognise that this transition will take time and will require significant investment in new sources of energy.

Eighty per cent of Australians currently rely on electricity generated from coal-fired power stations to run their households and businesses, and tens of thousands of Australians across many metropolitan and regional communities work in the energy industry.

In this context, Australian governments at federal and state level continue to support the coal sector due to the critical part it plays in ensuring the reliability and security of energy that 'powers' our economy. Government and industry are also working to grow the renewable and gas sectors to provide more sources of less carbon intensive power supply.

Renewable energy currently represents a third of our project finance energy portfolio. Projects we support include wind power, hydro and geothermal power stations. Our recently revised Energy Policy also commits us to continued growth in gas and renewable energy project finance, with a target of 15–20% growth – as a proportion of our project finance portfolio – by 2020.

We will continue to support our existing coal industry clients while also supporting the growing renewable energy sector.