Savings Banks Group’s Sustainability Report 2019

Responsibility is one of the core values guiding our business operations

Responsibility is one of the core values that guide the Savings Banks Group’s business operations alongside customer-drivenness, cooperation and performance. In the Savings Banks Group’s Sustainability Report for 2019, we describe how sustainability is reflected in our operations. Our Sustainability Report is based on a materiality analysis updated in the autumn of 2019, in which we evaluated key sustainability themes from the perspective of Savings Banks Group’s business operations and impact on society.

Our material sustainability themes in 2019

In 2019, the material sustainability themes of Savings Banks Group included the sustainability of the principles and operating methods that guide our operations, the sustainability of products, services and our work with customers as well as the impacts of Savings Banks Group on climate change and the impacts of climate change on Savings Banks Group.

Our vision is to be the most competent and trusted financial partner. We want to be known for our actions for Finnish financial wellbeing. Our mission is to promote thrift and the financial wellbeing of our customers and to operate near our customers. This basic mission has remained the same throughout our almost 200 years of operations.

We operate locally and promote local well-being

At Savings Banks Group, we also consider it very important that we bear social responsibility for society and the development of working life. We are a wholly Finnish banking group and all of the group’s banks pay their taxes in Finland. We operate locally and promote local well-being through our actions, such as our annual Good Deeds campaigns. In 2019, the campaign was particularly focused on children and young people. We donated funds to, for example, youth associations, sports associations, cancer foundations and non-profit volunteer organisations.

We engaged in close cooperation with several schools and educational institutions in 2019 to promote the development of financial literacy and financial capability of young people. We granted scholarships to university researchers and research projects through the Savings Banks Research Foundation and made donations to non-profits through savings bank trusts across Finland.

Responsibility is the basic prerequisite of our operations

We want to ensure that our customers and partners can rely on our judgment and sense of responsibility in all circumstances. The basic prerequisites of our operations include financial responsibility and good governance, risk management and our customers’ data protection and information security. The above-mentioned themes lay the foundation for the Savings Banks Group’s sustainability and this foundation must be solid under all circumstances. 

Read the Savings Banks Group’s Sustainability Report 2019 (pdf)



More information: sustainability@saastopankki.fi

Savings Banks Group promotes the financial well-being of individuals and the community. We want to be known for our courage, expertise and passion for delivering excellence to our customers. Savings Banks Group consists of local savings banks across Finland and the Savings Bank Centre. In addition to comprehensive retail banking services, we provide our customers with investment, real estate agency and insurance services.