Materiality
Creating, engaging and nurturing dialogue with all our stakeholders is vital to us
Open and transparent dialogue is the only way to get to know what each of our stakeholders expects from us and how we – as a bank-insurer – can best meet these expectations.
By engaging in dialogue and getting involved in new projects, we endeavour to create value for all our stakeholders.
Materiality
Our materiality assessment – performed every two years in cooperation with a third party – enables us to identify which themes our stakeholders consider the most important, what priority they place on them and how much these themes might impact KBC’s performance and reputation. The most recent dates from 2022.
Proces:
- Step 1 - Map: Stakeholder mapping exercise and assessment of our stakeholder groups
- Step 2 - Collect: Screening internal and external sources to arrive at a list of potential material topics (long list)
- Step 3 - Rate: Discussion with the members of our External Sustainability Board and identification of 15 material topics (short list)
- Step 4 - Survey: Assessing the expectations of our stakeholders to gain insights into the 15 material topics. In-depth dialogue with our management on these topics.
- Step 5 – Approve: Discussion on the results of the materiality assessment by the Internal Sustainability Board, validation by the Executive Committee and subsequently presentation to the members of the Board of Directors
The topics considered to be highly material to our business in 2022 are:
- Sustainable and responsible service and product offering
- Ethical business conduct and responsible behaviour
- Long-term resilience of our business model
- Partner in the transformation to a more sustainable future
- Sustainable and responsible asset management and investing
- Data protection and cyber security
You can find the results of the complete survey in our Sustainability Report and in the Annual Report.