Sberbank

The responsibility for sustainability issues within Sberbank lies with the supervisory board. In terms of its approach towards impact management, the bank acknowledges that its financing activities have both positive and negative impacts. It also identified and prioritised its impacts through a materiality assessment process which included feedback from external stakeholders. Sberbank has a sustainability report where it describes its approach on sustainability themes and impact topics with clients and investees. Moreover, the bank publicly commits to gender equality and women’s empowerment.

In terms of climate solutions, Sberbank discloses that it issued green bonds for RUB 25 million.

Sberbank has publicly available policy statements committing it to respect human rights, the ILO core labour rights and the health and safety of workers. The bank has a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers, external individuals and communities to raise human rights complaints or bribery and corruption concerns. It also takes steps to identify and address bribery and corruption. Sberbank discloses income tax payments for all its tax jurisdictions. Additionally, it specifies that it does not make political contributions. Regarding diversity, Sberbank discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by gender. The bank also discloses the amount of finance it directs towards small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Sberbank has an opportunity to link the remuneration of its executive and management teams to sustainability performance criteria. In terms of female representation in leadership positions, women are underrepresented on the board of directors where only three out of 14 board members are women. The bank also has an opportunity to reach at least 40% female representation in senior leadership positions. Furthermore, the bank could disclose the ratio of basic salary and remuneration of women to men in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category as well as the actions taken to address any pay gaps.

There is no evidence that Sberbank discloses a target to reach net-zero financed emissions by 2050. The bank has an opportunity to disclose the key sectors and companies it has identified as priorities to engage with on climate change, specifically on the alignment with the Paris Agreement. Regarding climate solutions, Sberbank could align all its green financing with internationally recognised frameworks. It also has an opportunity to disclose time-bound targets explicitly for its climate solutions. Regarding nature and biodiversity, no evidence was found that the bank is committed to minimising its negative impacts or financing regenerative solutions.

Sberbank has an opportunity to describe a comprehensive process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts across all its activities, especially its financing activities. While the bank discloses the ages of its executive and supervisory board members, it could disclose this information for each employee category. To provide transparency on financial inclusivity, Sberbank has an opportunity to disclose the amount of finance directed towards, for example, women-owned businesses or low-income developing countries.