CSR 2019

The year 2020 was a very atypical one which will always be remembered as the year of the global COVID-19 pandemic that has weighed heavily on the way we live and operate our businesses, sparing no industry or a corner in the world.

Lebanon was clearly not spared from the challenges brought forward by the global COVID-19 pandemic. To our infortune, the country had to deal with multiple layers of challenges given the very complex social, political, economic and financial crisis that it had been facing since October 2019. The crisis, which was unprecedented in scope and scale, has affected the entire Lebanese banking sector, creating major disruptions in activity and operating conditions. The dramatic explosion of the Beirut port on 4 August 2020 further amplified the crisis and led to even more severe economic and infrastructural damages, unseen even during the Lebanese civil war.

Nonetheless, our sustainability role, in terms of business essence and community approach, was a conflictingly inspiring and restraining one from the onset of the crisis. Inspiring because there was so much to be done from a social, communal and humanitarian point of view, especially after the devastating Beirut port explosion; and restraining due to all the business constraints, which naturally resulted from the multi-faceted crisis the country had plunged into.

Given all the events we had to deal with since October 2019, our priorities had to change. Safeguarding and de-risking our domestic franchise, strengthening our capital buffers, and ring-fencing our foreign entities and branches from Lebanon’s spillover effects, while fully meeting the newly arising regulatory requirements, became our top priorities.

On an operational level, Bank Audi has taken rapid action to navigate the volatility across its various markets while factoring in the frequent and wide range of regulatory developments we were facing. The main objectives of the Bank were to support the continuity of our clients’ businesses while ensuring adequate portfolio quality. Bank Audi strived to provide banking support to its Corporate and Commercial Banking clients, and proactively deleveraged the corporate and commercial portfolio in response to the economic slowdown witnessed across its market of presence. The Bank also tried to leverage, as much as possible, its strong digital leadership position across its entities to enhance customers’ engagement towards Alternative Delivery Channels (ADCs). In this respect, all our entities worked on three main COVID-19 management fronts: (1) providing sufficient branch working hours while adhering to top level hygiene and safety precaution protocols; (2) expanding digitalisation by encouraging customers’ use of ADCs and avoiding physical presence at branches; and (3) optimising back office working capacity while providing remote working setups for employees.

On a parallel note, the needs of our Retail Banking customers were promptly attended for in an uninterrupted manner through the Bank’s fully integrated 24/7 Contact Centre and Alternative Delivery Channels. Our teams introduced new services, increased limits, and replenished ATMs around the clock, while NOVO agents digitally performed several on-site transactions, such as transfers of employees’ salaries, cash transactions, emergency money transfers, salary payments for retired individuals, as well as credit card replacement and renewal. The somewhat unseen value of the crisis is that the events ensured a smooth migration to ADCs and directed customers to self- service platforms.

Embracing challenges did not deviate us from maintaining our commitment to ethical business principles including women empowerment and gender equality, and to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which reflect priority issues like poverty, health and safety, inequality, economic challenges, and climate change, and pave the way to more community support.

We also tackled the health challenges by offering our support as frontline healthcare workers and institutions that dealt with pandemic-related relief by contributing to the telethon fundraising campaign for the Hariri Hospital, the Red Cross and the Civil Defense. By the same token, we donated locally produced ventilators to seven other renowned hospitals across the country to help fill their gap in equipment needs.

With respect to the Beirut Port blast, we immediately responded to calls for volunteering made by various NGOs and other similar organisations to clean rubble and help restore residences, donate blood, food and clothes, as well as raising funds for reconstruction efforts. We also partnered with “Offre-Joie”, one of the major NGOs acting on the ground, which was heavily involved in the rehabilitation of destroyed residences in two poor districts, namely Quarantina and Gemmayzeh.

The past two and a half years have been very challenging to say the least. That said, we believe that, today more than ever, we need to focus on improving governance and transparency, and enhancing accountability. The road ahead appears to be long and fraught with bumps, but we remain confident in our ability to weather this storm and achieve the best possible outcome given the circumstances.

In closing, we would like to thank our customers for their continuous patience and understanding, our employees for their exemplary dedication, and our shareholders for their permanent support.

Stay healthy and safe.

In retrospect of the last 24 months, where we stood when we published our last CSR Report in June 2019 and where we stand today as the pandemic shrivels away, leaving society shyly coming back to “life”, one can only be apprehensive of all the good and the ugly surrounding us.

Certainly, we cannot deny the civic initiatives which sprung from all the material issues analysed as we engaged with our various stakeholders. Always benchmarking with global norms and international standards, our intentions which lead us are entrenched in the values we uphold throughout, even in challenging times!

We maintain our pledge to integrate our SDGs whenever possible into the business strategy as a complement to our social strategy culture which gives us a sense of belonging and allows us to remain focused and purpose-driven, all while inviting for more awareness and dialogue on issues for change.
In fact, our initial and proactive approach with regards to assisting communities in being more resilient was always essential but cannot supersede our compliance to regulations mandating priorities and affecting our performance. Responsibility, empathy and impact are still embedded in Bank Audi’s values through our five sustainability pillars: Corporate Governance, Economic Development, Community Development, Human Development, and Environmental Protection.

We maintain our affinity to the UN Global Compact and its local steering network where we have served as Board members, the ISO 26000 of Social Responsibility and our pledge to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In reality, the SDGs we tender towards span wider than the specific goals we have chosen to advance on, where impact reaches 11 out of the 17 set goals. Here, one can also note the inherent interconnectedness of the goals and how actions undertaken to reach a target within a goal may spillover to other targets identified within different goals.

Since 2015, Bank Audi has chosen to pledge towards five SDGs, namely SDG 4, SDG 5, SDG 8, SDG 9, and SDG13. As of December 2020, we embarked on SDG Ambition Accelerator as part of the UNGC Global Track aimed at defiant results for the 2030 agenda.

The challenges of the last 18 months have laid bare the inequities that have impeded our community and led to many-fold vulnerabilities. We cannot ignore the role our own industry has played in contributing to these disparities.

Nevertheless, we partnered with the National Poverty Targeting Program (NPTP), to benefit 13,600 vulnerable persons with food assistance. Another instance of mass support was through LBP 4 billion in contributions to renowned health-care institutions for pandemic-related relief. Also, 26 moto ambulances were donated to the Civil Defense and intervened in over 1000 emergency incidents across Lebanon.

Additionally, we embraced the challenge imposed by the pandemic of protecting the health and safety of our human capital, providing mental and social support, and mitigating cyber risks while working from home.

The Beirut port blast and its repercussions affected both our internal and external communities as we raised the new challenges of offering support in various initiatives ranging from hands-on volunteering to financial contributions and recollection of destroyed art. We also stimulated citizenship by highlighting the prominent personalities that helped shape Lebanon over the last 100 years, as part of the centennial celebrations.

Internally, we used our corporate voice to drive change for the benefit of diversity, equality and inclusion as advancement on our commitment to Women Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Targeting Gender Equality (TGE) across all levels of Management. At this time of introversion, we also tackled our responsible sourcing by fine-tuning our procurement policy.

When viewing our environmental assessment, the pandemic contributed to a reduction of our emissions as all travel was grounded and work from home was implemented.

Our engagement with others as agents of change is also noted through our collaboration with Univeristé Saint-Joseph and its Faculty of Economy on the proposed CSR draft law deposited for vote at Parliament, to create a CSR label and other incentivising government measures aiming at recognising and rewarding sustainable projects mandated from the private sector.

We’re entrusted to uphold our corporate values and our core business capabilities — and strategic philanthropy — to address societal challenges head-on.

Underpinning all this is the commitment of our investors to a culture that embraces challenges. This report illustrates how our people and planet activities, our performance and approach for the calendar years of 2019 and 2020, have been focused on the issues we determined to be of material importance.