If, at the beginning of this process, our choices were based largely on our beliefs, then today our achievements assure us that we are on the right track and that we are not alone.
In 2006 we became the country’s third largest private sector bank.
Of course these results are due primarily to the fact that society itself is in transition, having become better informed, more aware and more demanding, while valuing the importance of the banks’ new role in the difficult but essential task of integrating human, environmental and economic factors.
If we have grown and become more efficient, it is thanks to our customers, staff and partners who shared this vision and joined forces with us to build the new bank and new society we seek.
We are still at the beginning of an epic challenge, because it not easy for a culture to start accepting interdependence as a new way of being, after centuries of valuing independence.
The third report continues to describe this journey based on our experience, and is far more than just a disclosure of results.
Our innovations are not a function of changing laws or regulations. Following our convictions we act as pioneers, and consequently we make more mistakes than those who simply wait to adopt best practices.
This is the onus of innovation, which to us comes naturally, and that we enjoy sharing through our learning. After all, sustainability is not just for us: it is society’s cause.
Perhaps that’s why we have received so much recognition, which is gratifying and a spur to even greater commitment.
In 2006 we received 49 national and international awards for our sustainability-related actions.
These include enhancing our risk management by incorporating aspects and disciplines that give us a more accurate sense of the interdependence of financial, human and environmental resources; modifying our structures to meet our customers’ needs more efficiently; enhancing our governance model to guide and measure how our various departments comply with sustainable practices; creating solutions to develop the productive chain of companies; and funding for renewable energy projects.
Although sure of our direction, we are apprehensive at how slow we, like society, are reinventing our way of being, to align it with all we have learned and thereby give us a good life on this planet, now and in the future.
We must accelerate this transition and hope that our experience can stimulate and power this journey.
We want to become closer to our stakeholders (our relationship groups), which means their cooperation, criticisms and suggestions are most welcome.
Just drop us a line at: jornada.real@br.abnamro.com
Happy reading!
Fabio Coletti Barbosa
