Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB)

In terms of female representation in leadership positions, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) has a gender-balanced board of directors where 13 out of 7 members are women. The financial institution also discloses actions it takes to address any pay gaps, such as conducting an annual pay review and adjusting any unjustifiable pay gaps. Furthermore, it has an engagement policy where it describes its approach on sustainability themes and impact topics with clients and investees. In terms of its approach towards impact management, the financial institution acknowledges that its financing activities have both positive and negative impacts.

As a member of the Net -Zero Banking Alliance, SEB has set a target of net-zero financed emissions by 2050. The financial institution discloses the key sectors and companies it has identified as priorities to engage with on climate change, and the rationale for choosing these priorities. It also discloses that alignment with the Paris Agreement is one of its engagement topics. As a member of Climate Action 100+, the financial institution discloses that it collectively engages with its clients on the topic of climate change. Furthermore, the bank requires its clients to have a strategy aligned with the Paris Agreement. It also discloses the aggregate amount of green loans and mortgages as well as aggregated and current green bond issuances and underwritings. In addition the financial institution discloses nature- and biodiversity-related impacts (such as the production of palm oil) as one of its engagement priorities with companies to which it provides financial services.

SEB has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect the ILO core labour rights. The financial institution also discloses the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by age group and gender. Furthermore, the bank has a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers and external stakeholders to raise human rights complaints or bribery and corruption concerns. The financial institution discloses a global tax strategy and its income tax payments for all its tax jurisdictions. In addition, the financial institution discloses the amount of finance it directs towards small to medium sized enterprises.

In terms of its approach to senior leadership accountability, there is no evidence that SEB assigns responsibility for sustainability to the group’s board of directors. In addition there is no evidence that the financial institution links the remuneration of its executive or management teams to sustainability performance criteria. The financial institution publishes an active ownership report for its investment subsidiary describing how the engagement policy is applied in practice but no similar evidence was found on group level.

SEB discloses an interim emissions reduction target, but only for its investment subsidiary. The financial institution also has an opportunity to align all of its climate solutions (and not green bonds only) with internationally recognised frameworks. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the financial institution is committed to minimising the negative impacts it has on nature and biodiversity.

SEB 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 financial institution states that it has a process for identifying bribery and corruption, it could disclose details of this process. In addition, the financial institution discloses that it has a microfinance fund, however it does not specify the amount of finance directed towards women-owned businesses or the amount of finance directed towards other usually excluded groups.