ABN AMRO focuses on social impact

Social impact is about equal opportunities, financial inclusion and financial resilience. “Essentially, it’s about people in vulnerable positions,” says ABN AMRO Social Impact Lead Gitte Wouters. “The s in ESG (environment, social and governance) is more important than ever, in part because of the coronavirus pandemic. We’ve seen that absolutely anyone can wind up in a vulnerable position. So the question is, what can we as a bank do about that?”

Centre stage

That’s exactly what ABN AMRO’s recent publication ‘How to create positive change’ is all about. It covers a wide range of financially related social initiatives – initiatives aimed at vulnerable target groups such as young people, the elderly, migrant workers and people with disabilities.

“We’re putting those of our colleagues who work to achieve social impact centre stage,” says Social Sustainability Adviser Ruben Zandvliet. “There’s so much going on at the bank, but much of our work lacks visibility. So we’re using the publication to draw attention to the various initiatives and honestly ask ourselves questions like, what’s the next step, what else needs to be done, what could we be doing better and how can we make more of an impact?”

There are no easy answers to that last question. After all, the bank caters for numerous client groups in a society with just as many social issues. Examples include seniors who are excluded from the financial system because technology is moving too fast for them to keep up, migrant workers who may be at risk of being exploited on the job in the bank’s client supply chains and young people who could use some financial coaching to keep from getting into debt early on in life or being manipulated by criminals to facilitate money flows using their bank accounts.

Why choose?

“It’s impossible to define one clear bank-wide social impact objective because the theme is just so broad,” Ruben says. But he emphasises that’s not a problem. “Why choose between different vulnerable groups? We want to be there for everybody and take responsibility wherever necessary. Our first step now is to examine where challenges lie bank-wide and define our objectives.”

The responsibilities of individual employees are also being examined. Many members of staff have already completed a training course on the social challenges their clients face, including debt problems and financial abuse of the elderly. Gitte says, “The course makes our colleagues aware of what can happen to clients. Afterwards, one participant told me she had a better sense of all these issues. She said that her social antenna was better tuned since the course and that she now knows what steps she herself can take. That’s already a huge win.”

It’s important to remember, though, that making a social impact is usually a long-term process. “Don’t forget there’s no point at which you can stand back and say the job is done,” Gitte continues. “Take the work we’re doing involving the elderly, for instance. Some are vulnerable because they risk being excluded from the financial system owing to the speed at which technological innovations are happening. The bank’s financial care coaches are there to provide them with training and support when it comes to online banking. But because of Covid-19, our coaches can no longer visit these clients in their homes. That’s why we decided to bring forward the launch date of the senior line to allow our elderly clients to do their banking by phone. Basically, social impact is always ongoing. There are always new challenges, and that means we constantly have to keep our eye on the outside world and on society.”

New face

Gitte and Ruben, together with so many of their colleagues throughout the bank, are eager to take on those challenges. “It’s such an important theme. More and more of our clients, too, want to see the bank’s new face, its social face,” says Gitte.

Ruben concludes, “I see it as a challenge to contribute to the bank of the future, to help us move from being an organisation that is about money and numbers to one that fulfils its duty of care and social role out of intrinsic motivation. In the past, the bank had a quintessentially cohesive and service-oriented role. Then there was a time when it was all about ‘fast money’. Now we’re getting back to our former mission. We’re here for all people – and the most vulnerable among them should also be able to count on our support.”