ABN Amro

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Finance and Insurance

Long-term value creation, one of the key objectives of ABN AMRO, is built on two pillars: performance and reputation. A good reputation is vital to earn a ‘licence to operate’ from our stakeholders. That’s why it is so important to put the ABN AMRO Values and Business Principles into practice in a constructive dialogue with these stakeholders: our customers, employees, shareholders and society at large. The integration of sustainable entrepreneurship into our business practice by respecting ethical norms and ecological aspects is a precondition for the company’s long-term success.
The year 2002 brought major changes within ABN AMRO in general, and the Business Unit Netherlands in particular. The completion of an important phase in the restructuring of the business demanded a lot of attention and, as a result, certain objectives and efforts in the field of the environment and sustainability were necessarily shifted to the background. Nevertheless, some initiatives were developed further while others were started up:

  • Communication and dialogue about the ABN AMRO Business Principles were continued throughout the entire organisation.
  • A Sustainability Unit is being set up in the Business Unit Netherlands. This will be the nerve centre, from where all initiatives in this field will be stimulated and coordinated. A similar unit is already operating at corporate level.
  • Within the context of its membership of the World Business Council on Sustainable Development, ABN AMRO co-led the preparation of a statement by the CEOs of ten major financial institutions at the World Conference for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. In this statement, the institutions in question expressed their willingness to actively promote sustainable development.
  • ABN AMRO was one of the initiators and leading signatories of the Equator Principles, a voluntary set of guidelines for financiers of projects in developing countries.
  • The subject of sustainability is increasingly being brought to the attention of new and existing customers, suppliers and other business partners.
  • One spin-off effect of the purchasing of green energy in the Netherlands was that employees of ABN AMRO were given an opportunity to purchase solar panels.

There are signals that many customers appreciate our standpoint on ethical issues. This, incidentally, is not always a matter of coming up with the right answers. For many situations confront us with dilemmas to which there are no easy answers. The crux, in such cases, is to ask the correct questions, and to base these on the ABN AMRO Business Principles and Values in the back of our minds.

In conclusion: Trust must be earned. Transparency - making our efforts and results visible - is the only way to gain and retain that trust. That’s why ABN AMRO is working on its first-ever Global Sustainability Report that is to be published in 2004. The environmental report will be integrated into this. As is already clear from this Environmental Report 2002, the social and ecological aspects of sustainability cannot always be seen in isolation. We hope you will read our report with interest and are naturally very interested to hear your response.

Rijkman Groenink
Chairman of the Managing Board