Barclays 2005 Annual Report Download - page 16

Barclays PLC
Annual Report 2005
14
Corporate responsibility
with the Turnbull Guidance on Internal
Control for UK listed companies. A specific
standard on Corporate Responsibility
underpins our ‘Responsible Banking’
philosophy.
Benchmarking
Barclays is a long-standing member of the
Dow Jones Sustainability Index (ranking in
the top quartile in 2005) and FTSE4Good
ethical index. We participate annually in the
Business in the Community Corporate
Responsibility Index, ranking 32 out of 132
in 2005.
Responsible Banking
Customer Service
We are committed to treating our customers
fairly and have developed a set of aspirational
principles to help employees understand
how they can help Barclays deliver on that
commitment. A great deal of effort has gone
into improving our products and services.
We are giving customers more and better
information before they buy so they can
make more informed decisions and take
more responsibility for their finances. This
commitment remains a key priority and
helps us to respond to the industry challenge
posed by the UK’s Financial Services
Authority to demonstrate that we are
treating customers fairly.
Our Business Banking division in the UK
scores consistently highly in client satisfaction
surveys, whilst increased customer focus in
UK Retail Banking has improved its customer
satisfaction scores during 2005.
Barclays has the highest brand health scores
in Botswana, Ghana and Kenya and the
acquisition of a majority stake in Absa has
given us access to a new set of customers
Corporate Responsibility highlights
in 2005
We make our greatest contribution to
society by being good at what we do, and
doing it in a responsible way – providing
products and services that contribute to
the financial systems in the countries in
which we operate. We think this is the
context within which a major bank
like Barclays has its most important
role to play.
Corporate Responsibility for Barclays is
embodied by the concept of ‘Responsible
Banking’. Responsible Banking is an integral
part of the way we do business, and a
central element of our overall strategy to
make Barclays one of the world’s leading
banks. Responsible Banking means making
informed, reasoned and ethical decisions
about how we conduct our business, how
we treat our employees and how we behave
towards our customers and clients.
The emphasis on Responsible Banking
leads us to focus our approach around
six key areas:
•Customer service
•Financial inclusion
•Responsible lending
•Environmental impacts
•Employee welfare
•Community investment
Underpinning these themes is a strong
framework of governance.
Governance
Brand and Reputation Committee
The Brand and Reputation Committee,
a sub-committee of Group Executive
Committee, is chaired by Sir Nigel Rudd,
Deputy Chairman and a non-executive
Director on the Board. Following a review
led by the Group Chief Executive, the
focus of the Committee is on identifying
and managing issues of ethical and
reputational significance to the Barclays
Group. The Committee met five times
during the year.
Internal Control
We have a system of governance standards
which form the foundation of our system of
internal control and governance, consistent