Our sustainability framework consists of three pillars; sustainable finance, sustainable operations and beyond banking. All three pillars contribute to QNB’s goal of ensuring sustainable financial performance, through reducing risks, opening up new business opportunities and strengthening our brand. Under each pillar we have identified the issues most material to our business and developed Group-wide policy statements to establish common global standards across the organisation.
Sustainable Finance
Sustainable finance integrates environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into our business and investment decisions for the lasting benefit of our clients and society as a whole. Embedding sustainability practices within our lending, investments, products and services, is the most significant way in which we can support national and global sustainable development goals. Moreover, it enables us to manage risks to our own financial performance and profit from business opportunities emerging from the transition to a greener, more inclusive economy.
Material topics within ‘Sustainable Finance’;
- Sustainable investment, lending, products and services
- Supporting SMEs and entrepreneurship
- Financial inclusion, accessibility and financial education
- Digital innovation and transformation
- Responsible customer communication and marketing
- Customer privacy and data security
- Customer experience
Sustainable Operations
Sustainable operations refers to managing our direct ESG impacts, ensuring we operate ethically and efficiently. Our approach to improving sustainable operations is to measure, manage and report performance in alignment with the criteria set by the Qatar Stock Exchange ‘Guidance on ESG reporting’. This places particular emphasis on strong corporate governance, respecting the human rights of our employees and suppliers, and minimising the carbon emissions associated with our operations.
Material topics within ‘Sustainable Operations’;
- Governance, compliance and risk management
- Talent attraction, development and retention
- Diversity and inclusion
- Environmental impact of operations
- Responsible procurement
Beyond Banking
We actively contribute towards wider socio-economic development through our Corporate Social Responsibility activities with an overarching focus on education in the communities where we operate. In addition, we also support a range of external initiatives under the following categories; social and humanitarian, arts and culture, health and environment, economic and international affairs, sport.
Material topics within ‘Beyond Banking’;
- Community investment and socio-economic development