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Raiffeisen Bank International | Sustainability Report 2018
Management Overview Foreword
of sustainability
Responsible
banker
Fair partner –
Human Resources
Fair partner –
Inhouse ecology
Engaged
citizen
GRI index and
Assurance report
Lending policy and lending decision policy
Our business model is geared around the high level strategic goal of creating long-term value. Responsible
lending is a significant component of this model. We achieve this with a lending policy that is based on continuity.
We remain a fair and reliable lender to businesses with future prospects, even in difficult times. And we hold a
clear position regarding the handling of sensitive business areas. The Code of Conduct is part of our lending
policy. All employees involved in lending are accordingly obliged to act responsibly and also to carry out their
supervising duties with great care. Likewise, the reputation of our banking group must be considered in all activities
and decisions. The executives of our company are responsible for compliance with these standards in their
respective areas of responsibility.
We are committed to not directly or indirectly financing transactions, projects, or parties that are suspected of
violating human rights and, in particular, that use forced or child labor or that contravene the legal working and
social obligations of the respective countries, the applicable regulations of international organizations and, in
particular, the relevant UN conventions and rights of the local population or indigenous people.
Financing or participating in transactions or projects that involve the risk of sustainable damage to the environment
(e.g. destruction of the rain forest, land, air or water pollution) is not consistent with RBI’s business policy. For each
financing decision, the responsible employees must take the potential negative environmental impact and the
resulting damage to RBI’s reputation into account.
Furthermore, we aim to prevent the mobilization of nuclear power by ensuring that we do not finance any nuclear
power plants, companies that extract, distribute, or trade in nuclear fuel or companies that manage nuclear waste.
Cooperation with power plant companies that operate nuclear power plants is continued only if the nuclear
operations are strictly separable.
We also seek to prevent the mobilization of arms trading by ensuring that we do not finance any manufacturers
of or dealers in controversial weapons or their relevant suppliers, as well as wholesale arms dealers. Cooperation
with companies and businesses that manufacture defense products in addition to other products is only continued
selectively and if the military operations and related activities are strictly separable.
It goes without saying that RBI complies with international standards on financial sanctions and trade restrictions.
In connection with the gambling industry, we strive to finance exclusively reputable, transparent companies within
the European Economic Area or other European countries with a regulated gambling market that are subject to
supervision, comply with the principles of responsible gaming and adhere to the AML and CTF standards. As
previously mentioned, we are also a signatory of the Global Compact of the United Nations (see page 11).
The credit portfolio of the group is controlled by means of the portfolio strategy. Lending in different countries,
sectors or types of products is thus limited, which enables the concentration of undesirable risks to be avoided.
The risks and potential of various industries in the individual countries are continuously evaluated using an “industry
heat map”, which allows a timely response to any changes. Based on this industry heat map, lending guidelines
and limits for future structuring of the credit portfolio are developed.
Specific lending criteria for individual customer segments and countries are resolved by credit committees
consisting of representatives of the front office and back office areas or by the full Management Board. The
composition of the credit committees varies depending on the customer group for corporate customers, financial
institutions, public authorities, and retail. They make all associated lending decisions within the framework of the
lending approval process and the rating and volume-oriented assignment of responsibility (details on the loan
decision process and the Credit Portfolio Management department can be found in the 2018 RBI Annual Report
on page 185).