ABOUT NEDBANK GROUP

REPORT DETAILS

This Nedbank Group Sustainability Report aims to present a balanced, transparent and comprehensive account of Nedbank Group’s integrated sustainability initiatives for the year.

For Nedbank Group true sustainability is only attainable through an integrated approach, which is epitomised by our commitment to partnering effectively with our stakeholders to ensure our, and their, continued economic resilience, to promote lasting social development and upliftment, to minimise the impact of our business on the environment, and to achieve our stated aspiration to be a truly ‘great place to work’.

As such, this report sees a departure from the stakeholder- based content structure that has previously characterised our sustainability reports. It is more closely aligned with the integrated way in which sustainability is approached across the business, focusing on the four key areas of economic, social, environmental and cultural sustainability.

While this printed report offers a comprehensive overview of Nedbank Group’s sustainability efforts in 2009, it should be read in conjunction with the 2009 Nedbank Annual Report, and the 2009 Nedbank Black Economic Empowerment Report.

MATERIAL ISSUES ADDRESSED IN THIS REPORT

This report covers the 2009 reporting period and is the successor to the Nedbank Group Sustainability and Transformation Report of 2008. It covers the activities of Nedbank Group, focusing primarily on the South African operations, but also includes information from our African and international operations.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and, in particular, the GRI Financial Services Sector Supplement (FSSS) form the basis for this report, and an analysis of the group’s compliance with the GRI FSSS indices guidelines appear here. The relevant FSSS indicators also appear at the beginning of each section of this report.

Nedbank Enterprise Governance and Compliance (EGC) is responsible for the coordination of sustainability initiatives across the group. It also provides strategic direction and guidance in terms of sustainability issues and collates submissions from across the group for inclusion in this report.

This report covers material issues raised:

during, and as a result of, the sustainability report contributors’ workshop conducted in July 2009;
by various external stakeholder groups through a number of decentralised engagements conducted by various business areas;
in terms of feedback received from our inclusion in the Dow Jones World Sustainability Index, the JSE Social Responsibility Index (SRI) and the SA Carbon Disclosure Report, as well as feedback from relevant award and survey submissions; and
as a result of issues identified from benchmarking our local and international counterparts, and the comprehensive recommendations that came from the report assurance process.

The material issues addressed in this report have also been agreed to by the various report contributors, the Nedbank Group Executive and the Group Transformation and Sustainability Board Subcommittee and include the following focus areas:

Economic sustainability (Section 2)

Governance, compliance and ethics, responsible lending, risk management and delivering shareholder value.

Social sustainability (Section 3)

Socioeconomic development, the Nedbank Foundation and the Nedbank affinities.

Environmental sustainability (Section 4)

Nedbank’s climate change journey: awareness, measurement; reduction and neutralisation.

Cultural sustainability (Section 5)

Building a unique culture for competitive advantage, embedding talent management, developing and growing our people, accelerating transformation, staff volunteerism and occupational health and safety.

There have been no significant changes in accounting standards regarding sustainability reporting during 2009.

This sustainability report has been independently assessed by Ernst & Young, while the Financial Sector Charter (FSC)/ black economic empowerment (BEE) information has been assessed by appointed auditors Sizwe Ntsalaba. Ernst & Young’s assessment included a comprehensive evaluation of the materiality, completeness and responsiveness of the report, as outlined by AA1000 principles, as well as specific key performance indicators. A detailed assurance statement appears here. We thank Ernst & Young for its efforts in verifying the report and value the recommendations for continuous improvement that have been made. These recommendations have assisted in facilitating the implementation of our environmental and social initiatives.

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