About Nedbank Group

Chief Executive’s Statement

In 2008 we continued to instil a culture of sustainability within Nedbank Group and succeeded in translating a number of strategic objectives into positive actions. Recognising that our continued success depends on our ability to manage and track sustainability performance, we have integrated sustainability measures as components of our business processes and have incorporated specific sustainability measures into our various performance assessments. Our role as a corporate citizen, highly involved in the community and environment, forms the basis of our cultural transformation programme. We believe that engagement has the potential to encourage change, and we are committed to ensuring that our culture, values and policies serve to influence the behaviour of those with whom we work and interact, ultimately fostering a paradigm shift that will extend far beyond our own organisation.

Support is ongoing for the UN Global Compact and its principles on human rights, labour issues, the environment and anticorruption. We remain committed to the Equator Principles and continuously endeavour to improve our implementation of the principles. Nedbank is proud to continue in its role as Co-Chair of the UNEP FI African Task Force as a means of remaining actively engaged in the development and financing of sustainable solutions within the African context.

We have extended our endeavours to provide access to responsible banking services everywhere we operate. Access to finance was one of the bank’s major growth areas, and in August Nedbank reached 1 000 000 Mzansi clients. The reduction in retail bank fees in 2006 and 2007 and the belowinflation average increase in 2008 makes Nedbank very affordable particularly in the lower-income and mass-market segments.

For the second year in a row Nedbank found itself at the top of the Ask Afrika Orange Index for Banking Sector Client Service – the broadest independent service benchmark in South Africa. Our AskOnce campaign remains at the core of our service positioning and, after the exciting launch of the original AskOnce promise in September 2007, we launched five additional AskOnce service promises in July 2008.

Employees are the bedrock of any organisation, and we are convinced that our commitment to sustainability is essential to recruiting and retaining the best talent available in South Africa. Building our talent pool and retaining great staff as an employer of choice, growing our innovation capabilities and distribution network, and focusing on providing our clients with worldclass service, are all key to ensuring that our growth is truly sustainable.

We continue to enhance our culture by promoting engagement and behavioural change through employee participation. Despite challenging market conditions in 2008, our staffmembers consistently looked beyond themselves to the needs of others, undertaking extensive voluntary work through the Local Hero Programme, Team Challenge, Payroll Giving, Angel Tree, Deep Green Day and World Aids Day, among others. In addition to the efforts of our employees, our group contributed almost R53 million to a broad range of community projects through the Nedbank Foundation, the BoE trusts, The Green Trust, The Sports Trust, the Arts & Culture Trust and the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.

Our full conservation partnership with the World Wildlife Fund for Nature – South Africa (WWF-SA) has entered its third year, ensuring that WWF-SA remains very involved in the formulation of our sustainability strategies and, more importantly, allowing the organisation to challenge us to continually improve our performance in this regard. During 2008 Nedbank Group actively supported initiatives undertaken by WWF-SA to address various environmental challenges, including climate change adaptation and mitigation through the promotion of renewable energy technologies. In 2008 the total contribution to The Green Trust by Nedbank Group reached more than R90 million since inception. This money has been well-spent on over 150 major environmental projects, with nearly R70 million going into conservation.

Nedbank has long recognised that environmental management, and in particular the minimisation of our carbon footprint, is a non-negotiable element of our sustainable corporate performance. We have therefore issued a Climate Change Position Statement that sets intensity reduction targets and measures aimed at managing and minimising our own carbon footprint. To date we are the only South African bank to have done this so publicly. Our Climate Change Position Statement, Environmental Policy and Corporate Responsibility Framework continue to guide our approach, not only to our own operations, but also to our lending and financing practices. We have formalised a Group Environmental Forum to coordinate and track our progress and to provide strategic direction in this regard.

Further supporting our long-term, all-encompassing commitment to the environment, one of our new initiatives sees our group supporting the African chapter of the Prince’s Rainforest Project, which has been established to bring together African government, business and non-government organisations to find practical ways to stop the deforestation of Africa’s rainforests.

The credibility of our group among all its stakeholders depends heavily on our efforts in the areas of sustainability and governance and is supported by the levels of transparency we deliver through ongoing, detailed reporting. In recognition of our commitment to these aspects of our business the group received the Emerging Markets Sustainable Bank of the Year Award for the Middle East and Africa for the third year in a row. We were also included in the local JSE Socially Responsible Investment Index and the Dow Jones World Sustainability Index for the fifth consecutive year.

Nedbank Group keeps making huge strides towards our transformation objectives and we remain 100% committed to continuing this particular journey until we can confidently declare ourselves a truly South African company that is representative of all the people of our nation. Nedbank Group’s overall performance against the FSC targets has been exceptional, as reflected in the A-rating attained under the Charter and the level 3 rating obtained under the dti Codes.

Aligned to our commitments, it is very encouraging to note that our brand equity has improved with marked increases in awareness, relevance and loyalty, particularly in the mass consumer market segment and that Nedbank remains the only major banking brand to have made positive improvements in brand equity during 2008.

In closing, I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to every Nedbank Group employee, without whose commitment, hard work and positive attitude our group targets – financial or otherwise – would never be reached. The part each of them play in ensuring the sustainable growth of every area of our business, uplifting our communities and preserving our environment is invaluable. My sincere thanks, also, to all our clients, shareholders and other stakeholders for their ongoing support of our group and the part they play in the continued success of our sustainability journey.

Tom Boardman
Chief Executive