Group Sustainability Policy

In line with key legislation and declarations, Mediobanca’s Sustainability Policy identifies five priority areas.

The dual aim of the policy is to steer the Group towards improvement in all the five sectors and to integrate sustainability into business strategy and management.

The policy was approved by the Board of Directors on 3 August 2017 and applies to all the Group, alongside the Code of Ethics, the Code of Conduct, the Law 231 Compliance Programme, and other policies, guidelines, procedures, directives, and provisions connected with the key topics identified in the policy.

Priority areas

• ANTI-CORRUPTION: We do not tolerate any form of active or passive corruption. Accordingly, as a Group we operate in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations and provide regular training on the matter, conducting checks and audits. 
  Our business dealings are based solely on the provision of our services and the relative needs of our clients. We do not accept any form of benefit or gift that could in influence client relationships in an improper way. To combat the risk of corruption more effectively, checking and selection processes are promoted to screen suppliers and employees. 
  As part of the overriding focus we place on ethics and integrity, we strive to promote forms of behaviour to tackle corruption in the conviction that such an approach is of great value for all our stakeholders, and for the market in which we operate.
• HUMAN RIGHTS: We seek to protect human rights in all our daily activities, both in our dealings with clients, suppliers and commercial partners, and in internal relations.
  Externally, we identify and assess any risks that could infringe on internationally recognised human rights and we avoid dealings with any person or entity implicated in activities connected with potential human rights violations or abuses.
  Internally, we strive every day to respect the personhood and dignity of all people in an effort to create a workplace built on mutual trust and loyalty. As a Group, we guarantee respect for diversity, freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, and occupational health and safety, including through information campaigns and training programmes. Finally, we reject the use of forced labour and child labour and do not tolerate any type of physical, verbal, sexual or psychological harassment, or abusive, threatening or intimidatory behaviour in the workplace.
• DIVERSITY AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY: In order to be competitive on markets, as a Group we strive to value our people on a daily basis. In this context, we consider gender diversity and the diversity of beliefs and opinions to be an advantage to be leveraged as a source of cultural and professional enrichment. 
  In promoting an inclusive workplace, we do not tolerate any form of discrimination in the recruitment process, in the setting of remuneration, in career opportunities, or when the employment relationship comes to an end. 
  For us, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, language, ethnic or national background, physical or mental disability, maternity, motherhood and fatherhood (including through adoption), personal beliefs, political opinions, and trade union membership or active involvement are not acceptable grounds for discrimination.
• ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: In consideration of our direct and indirect impact on the environment, our decisions our guided by a wish to ensure economic enterprise is compatible with environmental concerns, in compliance with regulations and codes of conduct in force. In short, we promote a business that limits the impact of business.
  ​Accordingly, we are committed to:
  • Monitoring and improving environmental efficiency levels, especially as concerns the resource consumption 
  • Promoting initiatives to improve energy management, including by sourcing energy from renewable sources and through the use of innovative, low-impact technologies and solutions
  • Rationalizing our consumption of resources (such as paper and water) 
  • Improving waste management by adopting sustainable waste disposal methods, where possible
  • Performing regular maintenance on properties and systems to progressively improve their environmental performance 
  • Identifying processes connected with our indirect environmental impacts.
• RESPONSIBLE INVESTING: Integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria into investment and lending processes is fundamental for creating financial value, as well as social and environmental value.
  Our commitment thus represents the starting point for identifying a process whereby assessment of not only financial but also environmental and social factors underpins investment and lending decisions. Our approach is aimed at identifying, assessing, preventing and reducing potential risks arising from investments and loans to counterparties involved in serious events that adversely impact the environment, or who are implicated in human rights or workers’ rights abuses, corruption or terrorism. We also do not contemplate investment activities that may potentially conflict with the most widely accepted international standards, or which are believed to pose a serious risk to the environment or society.