We are committed to upholding high standards of governance to ensure we continue to operate as a responsible organisation that creates long-term value for the benefit for all our stakeholders. You can read more about our commitments in our annual reports.
Our Board is collectively responsible for the effective oversight of our business.
Our Board believes that diversity is a key enabler to Board effectiveness. As a result, all appointments seek to increase diversity in the Boardroom without compromising the quality of the Board.
The Group is led by an established and stable Executive Committee with significant expertise in specialist lending, financial markets, technology and risk management. The Executive Committee is responsible for developing and effectively implementing the Group’s strategy and delivering on our purpose by embedding a culture that empowers our people to be personal, practical and creative.
We incorporate ESG metrics into our executive bonus scheme design.
We recognise that the activities of our customers and partners can have ESG impacts. To help us assess and manage these risks, in 2022 we developed a set of ESG principles to help guide our lending and partner selection decisions in consideration of wider ESG impacts.
As part of our ESG principles, we seek to finance activities that support the transition to net zero, while avoiding providing finance outside of our internally defined thresholds. As well as including prohibitions for lending related to specific activities, they also guide our approach to sectors we have determined as sensitive including power and energy, marine and aviation, agriculture, gambling and transport. The principles also set out conditions for enhanced due diligence where there is potential for high adverse environmental and social impact.
An ESG panel consisting of senior representatives, including the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Risk Officer, has been established as an escalation route for transactions identified as having the potential for high environmental and/or social risk.
We are committed to respecting human rights and have a zero-tolerance approach to any modern slavery. We regularly review our process and policies to ensure that any occurrences are addressed swiftly.