Piraeus Bank Group has published its 2015 Corporate Responsibility Report. The report follows the Guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative G4 (GRI-G4) and presents the important non-financial aspects of the organization’s work in relation to its governance,  customers, suppliers, employees, society and the environment. 

Piraeus Bank Group perceives Corporate Responsibility as a means to substantially contribute to the promotion of sustainable development, through actions that support the society at large and the environment. The Bank’s financial contribution to social, cultural and environmental actions in 2015 accounted for 1.5% of the Group’s full year recurring operational expenses, versus 0.9% in 2014.  

Piraeus Bank considers Customer Service and Customer Satisfaction the most challenging issues a socially responsible corporation faces. The Bank systematically focuses on its clients’ individual needs and promotes products and services in a responsible and honest manner. It has strived to respond sensibly to the challenges of the economic crisis and, later, the capital controls, by promoting a spirit of collaboration with its customers and by taking measures to support the reorganization of sustainable businesses and sectors.

The Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation (PIOP) carries out the Bank’s commitment to preserve and promote the cultural heritage of Greece. The Foundation runs 9 Museums that showcase the traditional and industrial technologies across Greece and promotes the interconnection between culture and environment. PIOP’s key target for the immediate future remains to reach out to an even broader public, in accordance with Piraeus Group’s Corporate Responsibility Principles.

After a two-year period of changes within the Group, as a result of multiple mergers and acquisitions, 2015 was the first year of a new operating reality for Piraeus Bank's Environmental Management System (EMS). Piraeus Bank is strongly committed to protecting the environment and is one of the largest organizations (in terms of infrastructure area and number of employees) to have earned the EMAS environmental certification for the Environmental Management System it applies, which covers more than 700 buildings (totaling 500,000 m²) and directly involves more than 1,000 employees. 

Regarding its environmental footprint, in 2015 Piraeus Bank:

• Reduced the annual electricity consumption per square meter by 2%

• Reduced the annual CO₂ emissions per employee by 3%

• Recycled more than 1,000 tonnes of paper and 21,300 pieces of toners

Piraeus Bank’s Green Banking Division financed various RES projects, with a total capacity amounting to 975 MW, thus preventing the emission of over 2.124 mn tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere. Moreover, these loans resulted in the creation of approximately 7,000 financially sustainable jobs in the field, for the period between 2010 and 2015. In 2016, the Division aims at the expansion and incorporation of the Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS) in all its business financing products. 

2015 was another successful year for the LIFE-Stymphalia project, co-funded by the European Union. The project is about the development and implementation of an innovative sustainable business model for the Lake, with the aim to protect and manage its biodiversity. It contributes to both the national and the European targets for protecting biodiversity and generating alternative financing for the Natura 2000 Network.

In the CR Report the reader will also find information about Piraeus Bank’s actions related to the environmental/climate risks, such as the updating and upgrading of the Climate Risk Management Model and the Assessment study regarding climate change impact on businesses. The latter also offers adaptation strategies for the agricultural businesses in Greece.

With regard to its Human Resources, Piraeus Bank Group acknowledges that the Group’s employees constitute a key success factor for achieving its strategic goals. In 2015, Piraeus Bank invested in the shaping of a homogeneous corporate culture, by implementing harmonized HR policies and procedures and a common evaluation process, which promotes transparency, merit and recognition of individual contribution, as well as by organizing targeted actions to communicate the new Vision and Model of Values to all HR.

In 2015, aprox. 9,000 from a total of 19,000 Piraeus Bank Group employees participated in 147 volunteering actions. Also, the Group HR Division organized training programmes that amounted to 846,000. man-hours. These figures and other important information regarding the Group’s HR, such as the company’s Commitment to Safeguarding Human Rights, Equal Opportunities for Career Development, Employee Assistance Programmes, etc., can also be found in the 2015 CR Report

To view the report, click here.

For more information please visit Piraeus Bank Group website: http://www.piraeusbankgroup.com/en/.

Piraeus Bank

Piraeus Bank

Piraeus Bank Group is one of the most dynamic and active financial organisations in Greece today. Founded in 1916, Piraeus Bank went through a period of state-ownership and management (1975-1991) before it was privatised in December 1991. Today, Piraeus Bank leads a group of companies covering all financial and banking activities in the Greek market (universal bank). Piraeus Bank possesses particular know-how in the areas of retail banking, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), capital markets and investment banking, leasing and financing of the shipping sector. Piraeus Bank Group has a growing international presence, focused in Southeastern Europe and Eastern Mediterranean, but also in the financial centres of London and New York. Main strategic targets of Piraeus Bank Group are: further enhancing market shares in Greece and abroad wherever it operates, improving service quality and customer satisfaction, creating innovative products, further enhancing the Group's position in retail banking and small and medium-sized enterprises financing, strengthening the Group in the areas of asset management and bancassurance and, finally, strengthening profitability with a view of constantly increasing shareholder value.

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