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ASSURANCE STATEMENT INDEPENDENT ASSURANCE REPORT ON SELECTED NON-FINANCIAL INFORMATION TO THE DIRECTORS OF NEDBANK GROUP LIMITED
We have undertaken an assurance engagement on selected non-financial information, as presented in the 2011 Nedbank Group Integrated Report (‘the report’) of Nedbank Group Limited (‘Nedbank’) for the year ended 31 December 2011.
Subject matter and related assurance
Our assurance engagement was on selected non-financial information for the year ended 31 December 2011.
The subject matter of our engagement and related assurance we are required to provide is as follows:
| 1 | Limited assurance on Nedbank’s assertions relating to their alignment with the AA1000APS (2008) principles (inclusivity, materiality and responsiveness) as described on here in the report. |
| 2 | Limited assurance on the key performance indicators, highlighted in bold green on the relevant pages of the report. |
| 3 | Limited assurance on Nedbank’s self-declaration of the GRI G3.1 A+ application level (click here). |
| Key performance indicators | Description | Description
online reference |
| Net promoter score (NPS) | NPS score variance over past two years for clusters that used NPS | Clients |
| Net primary client gain | Number of net primary client gained/lost for retail, corporate and business banking | Stakeholder overview |
| Ombudsman for Banking Services cases | Number of cases opened and closed, and percentage cases linked to ATM disputes | Clients |
| Systems availability | Blended uptime score for infrastructure and applications, IT capability quartile positioning | Clients |
| Equator deals | Number of projects financed | Sustainable performance review |
| Carbon footprint | Total tonnes of CO2 equivalents | Environmental sustainability |
| Water | Total kl consumed on campus sites | Environmental sustainability |
| Paper | Total tonnes consumed | Environmental sustainability |
| Waste sent to landfill | Total tonnes sent to landfill from campus sites | Environmental sustainability |
| Waste recycled | Total tonnes recycled from campus sites | Eight-Year review |
| Entropy | Entropy score and number of value matches | Performance highlights |
| Employee surveys | Nedbank Staff Survey (NSS) and Barrett Survey scores | Staff |
| Nedbank Ethics Indicator (NEI) | NEI score variance, number of indicators improving and deteriorating | Annexure 1 |
| Internal ombudsman | Number of cases handled | Cultural sustainability |
| Employee turnover | Staff attrition rate | Stakeholder overview |
| BEE scorecard | Scores from broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) and Financial Sector Charter (FSC) verified scorecard | Investment case |
Directors’ Responsibilities
The directors of Nedbank are responsible for the selection, preparation and presentation of the sustainability information, for the identification of stakeholders and stakeholder reporting requirements, for material issues, for commitments with respect to sustainability performance, for establishing and maintaining appropriate performance management and for such internal controls as the directors determine are necessary for Nedbank’s preparation of the report, as well as for the selection of the performance information from which the reported information is derived. The directors are also responsible for the selection and application of the criteria detailed below:
- The AA1000APS (2008)1 for the three principles of inclusivity, materiality and responsiveness [the AA1000APS (2008) principles]; and
- The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G3.1 Guidelines.
1 AA1000 AccountAbility Principles Standard (2008), issued by AccountAbility.
Independence and Expertise
We comply with the appropriate requirements of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants, which includes comprehensive independence and other requirements founded on fundamental principles of integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality and professional behaviour. Our work was carried out by a multidisciplinary team with extensive experience in sustainability reporting assurance.
Our responsibility
Our responsibility is to express limited assurance conclusions on the selected non-financial information based on our work performed. We have conducted our engagement in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Information (ISAE 3000), assurance engagements other than the audits or reviews of historical financial information.
A limited assurance engagement involves performing procedures to obtain evidence about identified subject matter. Our procedures selected depend on our judgement, including the risks of material misstatement of the selected sustainability information in the report, whether due to fraud or error. In making our risk assessments, we considered internal control relevant to Nedbank’s preparation of the Report. We believe the evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our limited assurance conclusion. In a limited assurance engagement, the evidence-gathering procedures are less than where reasonable assurance is expressed.
Summary of work performed
Our work included the following evidence-gathering procedures:
- Interviews with management and senior executives at corporate level to evaluate the application of the GRI G3.1 guidelines and AA1000APS (2008) principles and to obtain an understanding of the control environment related to integrated reporting.
- Testing the processes and systems at group level that generate, collate, aggregate, monitor and report selected sustainability information and inspecting related documentation, more specifically:
- Interviews and discussions with relevant managers, key personnel and/or stakeholders of Nedbank to confirm definitions and boundaries for selected performance information, and to gather information on the data collection and report preparation processes.
- Evaluation of internal data management controls based on system walkthroughs.
- Inspection of selected internally and externally generated documents and records and comprehensive data analyses.
- Recalculation of the key performance indicators.
- Evaluating whether the information presented in the report is consistent with our overall knowledge and experience of sustainability management and performance at Nedbank and is not materially inconsistent with information contained in the integrated report.
Conclusions
| 1 | On the AA1000APS (2008) principles of inclusiveness, materiality and responsiveness on which we are required to express limited assurance Based on our work performed, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that Nedbank’s assertions relating to their alignment with the AA1000APS (2008) principles of inclusivity, materiality and responsiveness, described here, is not fairly stated. |
| 2 | On the selected key performance indicators on which we are required to express limited assurance Based on our work performed, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the selected key performance indicators set out in the table above for the year ended 31 December 2011 are not fairly stated, in all material respects, in accordance with the GRI G3.1 Guidelines. |
| 3 | On Nedbank’s self-declaration on the GRI G3.1 A+ Application level on which we are required to express limited assurance Based on our work performed, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that Nedbank’s self-declaration of an A+ application level is not fairly stated in all material respects in accordance with the GRI G3.1 Guidelines. |
Limitation of liability
Our work has been undertaken to enable us to express the conclusions contained in this report solely to the addressee in accordance with the terms of our engagement, and for no other purpose. We do not accept or assume liability to any party other than the directors of Nedbank for our work, for this report or for the conclusions we have reached.
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KPMG Services KPMG Crescent Policy board: The company’s principal place of business is at KPMG Crescent, 8 March 2012 |
Deloitte & Touche Building 8, Deloitte Place National Executive: A full list of partners and directors is available on request. |
