Our Stakeholders

We have a responsibility to manage our impacts on stakeholders and consider their interests in decision-making. We define stakeholders as groups or individuals who are affected by or can affect the achievements of our objectives.

Throughout the year, we aim to be transparent and constantly engage with all our different stakeholders. Engagement takes place in different forms, from ongoing dialogue to direct feedback requests. We take feedback seriously and constantly and carefully balance the interests of our various stakeholders as their support is necessary for our long term success. Click here for examples of our stakeholder engagement in 2012.

At NIBC, we distinguish the following groups of stakeholders:

Key stakeholders in our value chain include investors and clients. For further details on NIBC's value chain and our responsibilities click here.

Clients

Our clients include:

Client focus is our guiding principle; our clients are placed at the centre of everything we do. This is the basis of our business model and enshrined in our first business principle 'We think clients'. It is our goal to build a sustainable franchise for the future by building long-term relationships with our clients and deliver clear and sustainable solutions. We have a duty of care towards our clients, build long-term relationships and provide them with transparent and sustainable solutions for their business. To our retail clients, we offer competitive interest rates without complicated terms and conditions. Transparency and user friendliness are key.

Shareholders and Investors
Our debt and equity investors are key stakeholders in our business. In addition to ensuring a solid and sustainable investment return, we are committed to maintain good relationships with our investor community. We are transparent and providing accessible information on our company and have processes and procedures in place to ensure that products or services fully meet our investors' expectations.

Employees, former employees, pensioners
Our people are and always have been our most important asset and therefore an important stakeholder. We invest in the personal and professional development of our people because their capability and commitment define our success. We provide an environment where employees are treated with respect, and diversity and differences are valued. We offer a competitive range of benefits. We actively recognise employee representative bodies such as work councils.

NIBC expects employees to act in accordance with NIBC's Code of Conduct, handle their business with integrity, deal with sensitive information appropriately and consider stakeholders in all their actions. 'We show responsibility' is one of NIBC's business principles.

Suppliers
Through the products and services that we purchase from our suppliers we have an impact on society and the environment. However, as most of our suppliers deliver services and are located in high-income OECD countries, this impact is often limited or not significant. Still, we aim to minimise the negative impacts by purchasing sustainable solutions. We also expect our suppliers to act as responsible corporate citizens and to meet our sustainability standards. We include sustainability criteria in all contracts with suppliers and - depending on the nature and impact of the activities - discuss sustainability opportunities with suppliers.

Society and the environment
NIBC wants to play a role in addressing the environmental and social issues in the communities where we are active by being a responsible corporate citizen. Our ambition to be a trustworthy, transparent and sustainable bank includes taking action to minimise our impact on the environment and to contribute to building a sustainable society for future generations.

Direct Impact
Our direct impact on the environment is managed through our environmental sustainability programme, which ensures NIBC is a carbon neutral organisation by reducing our carbon footprint, further increasing our energy efficiency and compensating any remaining emissions. NIBC provides financial support and expertise of employees to social projects in local communities.

Indirect Impact
Our indirect impact on society and environment is managed through our Sustainability Policy Framework, which applies to all our client business. This is based on internationally recognised conventions and codes of conduct, such as the UN Global Compact, and the Equator Principles. It gives guidance to ensure that we do not provide financing to clients and projects where social and environmental impacts are not sufficiently managed.

Other Stakeholders

Our other stakeholders include, amongst others:

  • Peer banks
  • Regulators
  • Rating agencies
  • Government

Peer banks
We engage with peer banks as counterparties, investors, co-financiers or clients. We are committed to being transparent and a trustworthy partner. Responsibility to our stakeholders includes operating with integrity in the securities and financial markets that constitute our business arena. We therefore take the utmost care when handling confidential information. In order to safeguard the integrity and reputation of NIBC and that of the financial markets, our peer banks and the banking system as a whole, due diligence checks are required prior to engaging in business with a client. NIBC is member of the Dutch Banking Association (NVB).

Regulators
NIBC Bank is subject to supervision of the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) and The Netherlands Authority for Financial Markets (AFM). Through our international branches we also maintain relationships with regulatory bodies abroad. We comply with all legal and regulatory aspects of business and aim to maintain strong and open relationships with regulators and other supervisory bodies. We are committed to being transparent and meet expectations of regulators.

Rating agencies
The rating agencies provide NIBC with a credit rating both for the bank as a whole as well as for certain products and programmes. Maintaining a healthy creditworthiness is key for NIBC. We therefore have continuous dialogues with the rating agencies (Moody's, Fitch and S&P). Transparency, integrity and accuracy in reporting are fundamental.

Government
The Government is responsible for the framework in which public- and private organisations operate; they create legislation and regulations, influencing the way NIBC can operate. We hold dialogues with the responsible government representatives and actively try to contribute to developments in the financial sector.