Principles of responsible banking
Gazprombank signed the United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative (UNEP FI)’s Principles for Responsible Banking, officially joining the international community of responsible banking. The document contains the principles for activities of banking institutions, the implementation of which ensures attaining the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.
Signatory banks assume a leadership role in embedding sustainable business strategies and practices in their business activities to shape the future of banking that serves people, societies and the planet, securing prosperity for current and future generations.
The analysis demonstrated that one of major environmental impact areas of the Bank is the volume of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. At the same time, the volume of investments into green economy sectors is currently limited. In view of the above, facilitating the decarbonization of the Russian economy and reducing the environmental footprint of own operations and investments were selected as one of the key positive impact areas.
The other key positive impact area of the Bank today is contributing to the development of social infrastructure. It was decided that this specific impact area should be maintained in the future within the framework of continuous contribution to the social and economic development of the society.
The principles of Gazprombank's responsible banking activities are formulated and enshrined in the Bank's adopted Sustainable Development Policy:
- Ensure consistency of the Bank’s activities in the area of Sustainable Development with the social needs associated with Sustainable Development.
- Pay due regard to the impact of the Bank’s operations on the environment, society and humans.
- Promote implementation of Sustainable Development Principles, Responsible Financing and Investment mechanisms and contribute to economic activities to ensure prosperity of the present and future generations.
- Ensure active and responsible consulting, participation and collaboration with the Stakeholders to achieve Sustainable Development goals for the benefit of the society.
- Ensure open and honest collaboration with the Stakeholders; acknowledge their opinions and interests in the process of decision-making by the Bank.
- Promote governance and corporate culture consistent with the Sustainable Development Principles.
- Ensure compliance with the rules, regulations, standards and commitments undertaken by the Bank.
- Ensure transparency of operations and reporting in the area of Sustainable Development.
- Assume responsibility for risk management in line with the Sustainable Development goals.
When building business relationships with partners and competitors, the Bank complies with applicable legislation and recognized international business practices. The Bank shares the principles of fair and good-faith competition and adheres to such concepts as equality and fairness, as well as generally-accepted moral and ethical standards. The Bank guarantees that all received and used information on partners and competitors is acquired by the Bank in compliance with the applicable principles and standards of business ethics.
The Bank ensures the transparency of its business operations by providing complete and qualitative information about its activities. This is achieved by the open relationship between the Bank and its partners and the publication of various types of reliable information.
The principles of business ethics and standards of business conduct are enshrined in the Bank's Code of Corporate Ethics.
The Bank’s ESG products
Customer service
Always and everywhere, Gazprombank strives to get feedback from its customers and treats each response to its work with the utmost attentiveness – this helps us improve the quality of our products and services and maintain the loyalty of our customers.
In handling requests, we immediately take measures to quickly resolve the difficulties that have arisen and prevent the occurrence of similar situations in the future.
The Bank is very appreciative of – and attentive to – feedback about our work, as it improves the quality of our products and services and retains the loyalty of our customers.
When working with information, the Bank first and foremost attends to its security.
Customer service quality-control projects
Secret shopper
The Bank regularly evaluates the quality of service provided to individuals at its branches using the Secret Shopper method. Within the framework of this project, the level of professionalism of employees and their compliance with work standards is checked and areas for service improvements are identified. According to the results obtained over the past 2 years, the average service rating at the bank's offices has increased by 12 %. This result was achieved by improving line management, product presentation, handling customer objections, and sales.
Project goals:
- Assessing the quality and professionalism of services for individuals.
- Assessing compliance with work standards in the context of the Bank’s offices and regions of presence.
- Identifying service improvement areas.
Footprint: Cities where the bank operates.
Methodology: private audits (conducting audits on behalf of potential clients).
Survey period: quarterly.
Brand tracking
As part of its monthly brand-health monitoring, the Bank measures its key brand indicators: knowledge, usage, image, attractiveness and willingness to recommend the Bank. Since 2017, the Bank has managed to increase its willingness-to-recommend index by a factor of 7.5 and get as close as possible to the market leaders.
Project goals:
- Monitoring brand health (knowledge, use, attractiveness, willingness to recommend).
- Assessing the image of banks.
- Monitoring of advertising indicators.
Footprint: Russia, cities with a population more than 100,000.
Target group: users/those planning to use banking products and services, 18–55 years old, average income or higher.
Methodology: quantitative research, online survey.
Survey period: monthly.
Awards in the field of customer service
CX World Awards. Customer-focused corporate culture
In 2021, Gazprombank became the winner of the CX World Awards in the “Customer-Focused Corporate Culture” nomination.
The award in this category is given to organizations that have implemented an initiative that encourages cultural change to achieve a superior customer experience. Nominees must demonstrate an understanding of corporate culture (CC) and how it effectively changes and affects the improvement of customer experience.
CX World Awards. Customer Service Professional
In 2021, Gazprombank became the winner of the CX World Awards in the "Customer-Service Professional" nomination.
The award showcases the best professionals in customer service – employees who directly interact with customers and, with their human-centered attitude, create an excellent customer experience at the company, demonstrating personal professional achievements and results, customer focus, engagement, and the motivation to achieve the organization’s strategic goals.
The award was given to Ekaterina Khairutdinova, Head of the Corporate Customer Inquiries Handling Section in Cheboksary, for translating the values of a customer-focused approach in her daily work and involving her colleagues in creating a new service environment.
CX World Awards. Employee Engagement/Motivation Practices
In 2021, Gazprombank became a CX World Awards nominee in the field of "Employee Engagement/Motivation Practice."
The award is given to organizations that demonstrate the best strategy/program/practice/ for the engagement/motivation of their personnel in the formation and improvement of customer experience, including a deep understanding of the organization’s strategic goals and mission, brand values, customer needs and expectations, a high level of employee engagement and satisfaction.