The way companies carry out their responsibilities on environmental, social and governance issues (ESG) is progressively becoming a crucial yardstick of the public debate and of their clients’ expectations.
Société Générale has put Social and Environmental Responsibility at the centre of its strategy and aims to be a leading player in this area.The Group is ranked in the top quartile of global banks by RobecoSAm, the independent extra-financial rating agency (the 2017 ranking covers economic, social and environmental aspects). Société Générale aims to join the top 10% by 2020.
For our private bank, making a commitment to CSR also means advising you and managing your wealth, while complying with CSR’s underlying values: to provide, within the range of our investment solutions, a “socially responsible” offering; to select through our management companies the players with the strongest ESG commitments; to exercise as soon as possible our voting rights in compliance with our own extra-financial requirements; and finally, to establish if necessary, a constructive dialogue with the companies in which we invest on your behalf.
By doing this we are not indulging in a passing fashion, as we are convinced that the link between sustainable development and economic competitiveness is very relevant. It is extremely likely, both in large companies and in SMEs, that the performance and enterprise value of active CSR players is higher than in other companies. Why is this? Because of greater staff commitment towards the companies’ values, a better reputation, more fruitful relations with their ecosystem. More specifically, because companies that are active in terms of CSR are also often active in terms of innovation.
The economic benefit given by sustainability is real. Our ambition, beyond our own responsibility, is to pay attention to this and to capture, on your behalf, all the opportunities it offers.
