KCB Launches First Sustainability Report

KCB today became the first bank in Eastern Africa to issue a sustainability report.  

KCB Group Chairman launched the bank’s first sustainability report covering the calendar year 2007 at a ceremony attended by a cross-section of key stakeholders from the private and public sectors.

Speaking at the ceremony, Muthoka said the launch   heralded a new chapter in the bank’s relationship with its stakeholders.  

“We are proud to be the first bank in this region to issue a sustainability report. But that is not the most important thing.     The most critical realization from this exercise is that our planet is in danger of total destruction as a result of all the small things we do wrong in our daily corporate and private lives, and we must take action now,” said Muthoka.  The chairman noted that sustainable business practices required boards of organizations to demonstrate leadership in executing their economic, social and environmental responsibilities.

“This report becomes the benchmark for improving our sustainability performance going forward and would be the platform for embracing sustainable management practices as a way of life at KCB,”  said Muthoka.

KCB engaged PriceWaterhouseCoopers at the beginning of 2008 to spearhead the exercise that would enable the bank to issue the report.  Part of the exercise included review of the bank’s operational data and records as well as interviews with key personnel.
“Based on the findings, the bank compiled a comprehensive report that details our performance in a number of sustainability indicators in line with the Third Generation Global Reporting Initiative Guidelines of 2006,” said the Chairman.

Chief Executive, Martin Oduor-Otieno said the bank had initiated measures to ensure the business remained viable into the future.
“Our obligations to our stakeholders are such that we must pay attention to their concerns about the social, economic and environmental impacts of our business,” he said.

The report contains details of the bank’s economic, social and environmental data showing compliance to prudential, legal and regulatory requirements.
KCB Group Director and chairman of the KCB Foundation, Susan Omanga, said the KCB Foundation would steward the bank’s aspiration to become a green organization.
“Sustainability is a top global agenda and demands that organizations put in place measures to address critical issues that would ensure the business and the Earth can co-exist. Today, KCB stands to be counted as an organization that supports sustainable management practices,” she added.  

“KCB is committed    gradually changing the way we run our business to make it sustainable and protect the environment for the sake of future generations,” said Muthoka.

Though not mandatory, sustainability reporting is becoming increasingly popular among the World top businesses as a way of enhancing transparency and accountability. Eighty per cent of the World’s Global Fortune 250 companies issue corporate responsibility reports separate from their financial reports, according to a recent KPMG survey.
In Africa, South Africa accounts for the lion’s share of companies that issue such reports with 86% of its top 100 companies publishing the documents in 2008. 

By being the first bank in the region  to launch this report, KCB, East Africa’s  oldest, largest and most progressive commercial bank has shown leadership in sustainability management and reporting in Kenya’s banking sector.
   
The report is compiled in line with the Global Reporting Initiative’s G3 guidelines of 2006 on non-financial reporting adopted by many companies across the World.