Best bank for corporate social responsibility:
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
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Also shortlisted: |
In the face of some of the worst headlines to hit the banking sector and as billions of dollars in fines were handed out for bad behaviour, the corporate and social responsibility teams at banks around the world continued to be beacons of light this year.
The submissions for this category flooded in from banks all over the world and each and every one deserves recognition. CaixaBank once again made the shortlist with its impressive know-how built up supporting the Spanish population and economy being exported to help communities in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
The integration of CSR performance in the variable compensation scheme for the top 5,000 managers at BNP Paribas also caught the panels’ eye, while at HSBC the environmental protection work is of the highest order.
But it was the all-round effort of Bank of America Merrill Lynch that won the bank the award this year. The impressive launch of the Catalytic Finance Initiative, with CEO Brian Moynihan taking to the floor of the UN’s General Assembly to announce the plan, was the icing on the cake of an outstanding year in CSR.
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Part of CSR is a desire to be a positive force in every aspect of the business
Andrew Plepler, |
Committing $1 billion of the bank’s own capital, Moynihan also revealed plans to draw on the bank’s employees’ capital markets expertise to attract $10 billion of additional investments. The goal of the initiative is to make clean energy investments more financeable, particularly in emerging markets, by helping to de-risk financial involvement in the projects.
“We are looking at how we can convene partners, leverage our position as a large institution and use our balance sheet to do the greatest good,” says Andrea Sullivan, head of corporate social responsibility in EMEA.
The bank is engaged in early stage discussions with peer banks about their potential interest in soft circling financial commitments similar to BAML’s, but the funds from partners are not being raised to form a separate fund. Rather the aim is to look for opportunities where the bank’s funds can partner with others, including public capital providers, for specific deals that, but for this partnership, might otherwise not be financed.
An example of this is the November 2014 partnership with the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves and other investors, which saw $100 million raised to provide tens of thousands of people with safe, carbon-emission-reducing cooking facilities.
In the burgeoning green bond sector, BAML is again a leader. Consistently ranking as one of the top underwriters, the bank has been involved in some of the biggest and most innovative issuances in this rapidly expanding sector.
The bank’s portfolio includes developer Vornado Realty’s $450 million green bond issue to fund new green construction and retrofits, which priced tighter than the issuer’s ordinary debt; and German development bank KfW’s inaugural and massive $1.5 billion green bond issue.
Women entrepreneurs were important recipients of support from BAML in 2014. Via Elizabeth Street Capital in the US and the Calvert Foundation in emerging markets, women-led businesses have received funding and technical assistance to further their endeavours.
Education, financial and otherwise, is another core focus for the CSR team at BAML. In the UK, the bank’s involvement in The Education and Employers Taskforce’s ‘Inspiring the Future’ campaign has seen 840 BAML employees join clients and vendors of the bank in mentoring thousands of students across the country.
In Asia, working alongside Hong Kong charity Crossroads, senior BAML staff formulated a strategy to distribute decommissioned computers to schools and training centres around the world.
Humble
Despite all the good work, those in charge of CSR at Bank of America Merrill Lynch are contrite when pressed on the bank’s involvement in the scandals that have rocked the banking industry.
“We all need to be humble enough to know that we don’t always get it right; part of CSR is a desire to be a positive force in every aspect of the business,” says Andrew Plepler, global corporate social responsibility executive.
“We want to build a culture of people who feel good about being here and what we are doing, so that everyone is vested in the company and what we are achieving,” he adds.
