Absa Group

In terms of senior leadership accountability, the responsibility for sustainability issues within Absa lies with the social and ethics committee of the board. In terms of gender equality and representation in leadership positions, Absa publicly commits to gender equality and women’s empowerment and has a gender-balanced board of directors where six out of fifteen members are women. At the governance level and impact management, it acknowledges that its financing activities have both positive and negative impacts. It identified and prioritized its impacts through an impact analysis aligned with the Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB). Absa discloses a list of trade associations of which it is a member including industry and business associations, Chambers of Commerce, and professional bodies.

Absa discloses that it engages with climate-sensitive industries in the lending activities on the topic of climate change. In addition, it supports customers to be aligned with the Paris Climate agreement. The financial institution discloses the amount of loans and percentage devoted to its climate-sensitive sectors, specifying what those entail. Furthermore, the bank sets various targets related to climate solutions, including Absa Business Banking South Africa aiming to finance ZAR 2.5 billion of renewable power by 2025.

Absa has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights, health and safety of workers, to protect personal data and prohibit bribery and corruption. In addition, the financial institution has a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers, external individuals, and communities to raise related complaints or concerns. Additionally, it provides evidence of its employee’s health and safety data and discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by age group and gender. To conclude, Absa Group discloses the amount of finance it directs towards small- and medium-sized enterprises.

While Absa discloses that its incentives contain a non-financial metric that includes environmental sustainability, it has an opportunity to link the remuneration of its executive and management team to sustainability performance criteria spanning across environmental and social topics. In terms of gender equality, Absa has also an opportunity to reach at least 40% female representation in senior leadership positions and to disclose how it addresses any gender pay gaps. Although the bank discloses it encourages and supports sustainable behavior by considering the environmental and social impacts of its clients within its lending activities, it could provide more details on the engagement and disclose an approach for all its financing activities.

There is no evidence that Absa discloses a target to reach net-zero financed emissions by 2050. It has an opportunity to discloses that it collectively engages with companies to which it provides financial services on the topic of alignment with the Paris Agreement. Furthermore, Absa has an opportunity to disclose that engagement is specifically focused on requiring its clients to have a strategy aligned with a 1.5°C trajectory. About climate solutions, Absa could disclose that the financing towards renewable energy is defined according to internationally adopted frameworks. Regarding nature and biodiversity, no evidence was found that the bank is committed to minimizing its negative impacts or financing regenerative solutions.

In relation to human rights due diligence, Absa can improve its performance by describing a comprehensive process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts across all its activities, especially its financing activities. While the bank discloses a breakdown of race and ethnicity in its board and executive committee, it has an opportunity to disclose this information for each employee category. To provide transparency on financial inclusivity, Absa could provide evidence on the amount of finance directed towards women-owned businesses and low-income developing countries.