Ongoing dialogue with our stakeholders
Listening to you
Listening carefully to our stakeholders enables our Group to better identify changes in our environment and so respond rapidly to new expectations. Appropriate channels have been set up to encourage constructive dialogue with each of our stakeholders.
To better take into account the opinions of our stakeholders, Societe Generale launched a new materiality survey at the end of 2020. In 2021, informed by the results of this information gathering survey, Societe Generale defined the four key areas of its CSR action: reinforcing a culture of responsibility, supporting the environmental transition, acting as a responsible employer and having a positive local impact.
Dialogue with our clients
Societe Generale group measures the satisfaction of our 25 million clients in the 65 countries in which we operate, and across all our business lines. We do this through various mechanisms: barometers, suprise visits, questionnaires, among others.
In France, Central Europe, Africa and for our three core businesses, the Group uses independent analysis of its Net Promoter Score® (NPS). This satisfaction indicator is a true global standard that measures the likelihood clients recommend the product or service they use to those around them.
With our staff
Societe Generale has put in place various methods for listening to and having dialogue with all of our staff. The first of these is the Employee Barometer, an annual and anonymous, internal survey conducted throughout the Group. The results are shared with all staff members and calculate the overall level of staff engagement and to set up action plans if necessary. Our Group has also put in place a dedicated whistleblowing tool for staff, permitting the reporting of inappropriate acts or behaviours that go against the Group’s rules of conduct. In addition, we maintain an ongoing constructive dialogue with all staff representative bodies.
With regulators and supervisors
The Group is a dynamic and responsive partner in all the financial markets in which we operate. The Group's dedicated staff maintain close relationships with banking and financial supervisory authorities and regulatory bodies, and take part in consultation exercises and market committees. This provides Societe Generale with a clear understanding and advance notice of regulatory changes, as well as promoting shared consultations and studies with these authorities.
With our shareholders
Through contact at Annual General meetings or specific regular events, and thanks to direct communication with the Letter to Shareholders and the dedicated space on this website, we maintain an ongoing dialogue with our individual shareholders. In order to enrich this dialogue and share all the necessary information, a Shareholders' Consultative Committee (SCC), composed of 12 individual shareholders appointed for three years, provides opinion and recommendations on our materials, events and strategic directions.
With our investors
Societe Generale's management regularly meets investors during roadshows to present the Group's strategy and financial results as well as to discuss points of views, including on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) topics. The Chairman of the Board of Directors, the Bank's management team and the Chief Financial Officer, accompanied by the Investor Relations team, spend around 60 days a year with investors in the main international marketplaces. Conferences and events dedicated to investors and analysts are also regularly offered to enable them to fully understand the Group's key characteristics and our objectives in our various markets.
With rating agencies
The ratings of our financial performance by four independent rating agencies (Fitch, Moody's, R&I and Standard & Poor's) is an integral part of the key indicators of the Group's overall performance. The Group's extra-financial ratings enable investors to exercise their choices in line with Environmental, Social and Governance criteria. Due to the transparency and quality of the information provided to these agencies and rating organisations (Vigeo Eiris, RobecoSAM, etc.), Societe Generale ensures that its activities can be and are evaluated, and maintains regular, ongoing exchanges with non-financial analysts.
With the wider civil society
Societe Generale has set up a specific procedure to centralise all correspondence and contacts with NGOs and other stakeholders within the CSR division. At the earliest possible stage, internal studies are undertaken to provide documented replies in writing or in person. Group representatives regularly take part in working sessions and talks with a dozen NGOs (including Friends of the Earth, Oxfam, ShareAction, BankTrack, Urgewald, WWF, among others), bilateral meetings or plenary sessions organised by the OECD, the Equator Principles Association or the Businesses for Human Rights association.
More generally, in 2021, Societe Generale continued dialogue with some ten NGOs through working sessions, written exchanges, bilateral meetings or more comprehensive consultation meetings organised by the associations themselves or through the French Banking Federation, Businesses for Human Rights and the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI).
With our suppliers
Aware of our economic strength and keen to maintain fair relations with suppliers, Societe Generale has been committed to a responsible purchasing policy since 2006. Our Group has been certified for "Responsible Supplier Relations and Purchasing" by the Médiation des entreprises and the Conseil national des achats since 2012 (certification included in the ISO 20400:2107 Responsible Purchasing standard since 2017). This certification attests to the Bank's commitment to establishing lasting, fair relations with its suppliers (81% of which are VSEs and SMEs).
Since 2020, the Positive Sourcing Program – the Group's fifth responsible purchasing action plan – has further committed the Group to this approach, directing our purchasing strategy towards VSEs, SMEs and companies in the social and solidarity economy.
