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doing well by doing good

 

"To be, rather than to seem"

The Coutts Family motto

 

Become a client

 We’ve always aspired to go above and beyond for our clients, so it seemed fitting to take the next step and become a certified B Corp™.

COUTTS IS A CERTIFIED B CORP

It’s a business that works towards meeting standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and accountability to balance profit and purpose. In order to become a B Corp, a business receives an external accreditation by achieving a minimum verified score on the B Impact Assessment—a rigorous assessment of a company’s impact on its governance, workers, customers, community, and environment.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR OUR CLIENTS

Our B Corp certification means we consciously work towards providing responsible wealth management in line with exceptional levels of service. Becoming a B Corp helps us continue to support our clients' sustainability plans and show that financial goals need not come at the expense of the planet.

coutts' b corp certification

We completed the online B-Impact assessment based on 2019 data. We answered around 300 questions, defining a range of key policies, including our company governance, how we care for colleagues, our environmental impact and what we contribute to the community. Our 2019 scores are detailed in the section below, including a brief summary of how we achieved those scores and areas we are focusing on improving. All B Corps have to recertify every three years to ensure they continue to meet the B Impact Assessment’s evolving standards. We are preparing for our B Corp recertification due in 2024.

 

Governance

15.6

 

Our Articles of Association detail the role of our Board of Directors, who are responsible for governing the business. We publicly disclose our financial results and progress of the business annually, and we have made advances in integrating social and environmental performance into decision making.

 

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    We include climate-related disclosures and summarise our progress against our purpose ambitions in our 2022 NatWest Group Climate-related Disclosures Report.

    We recognise the importance of transparency and are focussed on improving the disclosure of specific environmental and social targets and our progress against these.

     

 

workers

36.0

 

Our purpose is to champion potential. Helping our colleagues to thrive is a key part of that ambition.

 

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    WE HAVE A SIMPLE, CLEAR AND FAIR APPROACH TO PAY.
    • We pay our colleagues the Living Wage and undertake an annual pay review focused on paying for performance and progressing the salaries of lower paid colleagues.
    • Our employee benefits programme provides flexibility and our wellbeing policies enable colleagues to be supported, through access to employee assistance programmes and activities to support health and wellbeing.
    Training and Career Development is very important to us.
    • We encourage colleagues to undertake personal and professional development and support this with a range of resources.

    Each year we measure colleague sentiment with regular listening events via our People Council plus two anonymous surveys and we take action to respond to feedback.  

     

 

community

13.3

 

We provide equal opportunities for our people through an inclusive and supportive culture.

 

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    • We actively recruit through organisations that serve individuals from underrepresented populations and have a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion plan in place to help us increase the diversity of our business - an area we know we need to improve, in particular across our management roles.
    • We are also focussed on improving our representation of colleagues from ethnic minority backgrounds, and have taken actions according to the NatWest Group Report on Racial Equality.
    • We provide up to three paid days of volunteering leave* to enable all our colleagues to give back to the wider community.
    • Our colleagues support our ‘Charity of the Year’ and various other community initiatives that you can read more about here.
    • We also support The Coutts Charitable Foundation, an independent corporate foundation focussed on tackling the causes and consequences of poverty in areas where Coutts has a presence.
    • In 2020 and 2021 NatWest Group launched a new supplier charter and introduced a third party assessment to independently benchmark our suppliers through evidence-based assessments and subsequently develop improvement plans with suppliers.

    *pro rata’d for part-time employees

 

environment

7.7

 

We recognise that climate change is a critical global issue which has significant implications for our clients, employees, suppliers, partners and therefore Coutts itself. 

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    “Climate is a key area of focus in our Purpose-led strategy. Operationally, we align with NatWest Group’s commitments which you can read about here. 

    • NatWest Group Property Services support us with monitoring and recording our energy, water, waste and greenhouse gas emissions. 
    • We support green mobility and have electric chargers in our headquarters, as well as facilities designed to support use of public transport and cycling.
    • We have also obtained access for Coutts clients to an innovative e-mobility offering from Octopus - find out more about this here.
    • From lending initiatives to helping our clients to save energy at home, we continue to look for ways to reduce the climate impact of our financing activity. We have an ambition that 50% of our mortgage book will be secured against homes with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rated C or above by the end of 2030. We also offer mortgage products to relevant clients at a discounted arrangement fee for purchasing an energy efficient home (EPC Grade A or B) or making improvements to their home to make it more energy efficient (EPC Grade C and above) within a set time period.
    • We look to address climate in our clients’ investments in a number of ways. We are part of the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative and have an ambition to achieve Net Zero by 2050 and support the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. To reach Net Zero, we have set short term 2030 portfolio alignment and carbon intensity ambitions. To meet our ambitions, we utilise our fund selection process, stewardship and, if necessary, exclusions within our Coutts Funds where we believe that engagement will not be effective.

    We are committed to further support our clients in this important area. We have been founding supporters of the Queen’s Green Canopy and supporters of The Terra Carta.

 

cLIENTS

9.9

 

Clients are at the heart of everything we do, and we are dedicated to providing exceptional service. 

 

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    • Feedback is key to enhancing the Coutts experience and so we run monthly surveys to learn from our clients how we can improve.
    • We also run a Client Council where we proactively test ideas with an engaged group of members.
    • We take any dissatisfaction regarding our service seriously and manage all client concerns in a timely and efficient way. 
    • The privacy and security of client data is of paramount importance to us and we have robust control measures in place to protect data in accordance with our legal and regulatory requirements.  
    • All our clients have a dedicated point of contact and receive bespoke and tailored support and guidance. 
    • We understand the importance of connecting our clients; and have developed an app for clients to connect and share ideas.

WHo else is a b corp?

There are currently over 1,600 B Corps in the UK and over 6,000 worldwide. Here are just a few:

  • The Guardian
  • Jamie Oliver
  • OddBox
  • KeepCup
  • The Body Shop
  • Patagonia
  • The Big Issue
  • Danone
  • Ben & Jerry's
  • The Guardian
  • Jamie Oliver
  • OddBox
  • KeepCup
  • The Body Shop
  • Patagonia
  • The Big Issue
  • Danone
  • Ben & Jerry's

like to find out more?

You'll find full details on which companies are B Corps and the assessment on the B Corporation website: bcorporation.uk.
 

To learn more about the process we have undertaken to achieve the certification, please email our Sustainability Director, Emilia Li who’d be delighted to help.

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