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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 gone 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

What is a B Corp? It’s a business that meets the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal 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.

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WHAT THIS MEANS FOR OUR CLIENTS

Our B Corp certification means you can rely on us to give you exceptional levels of service and manage your wealth responsibly. But over and above this, it means when you choose Coutts, you choose to have a positive impact on society. Becoming a B Corp helps us continue to support our clients' sustainability plans and provide the reassurance that no matter their financial goals, they need not come at the expense of the planet.

coutts' b corp certification

We completed the online B-Impact assessment based on 2019 data, answering around 300 questions on everything from our company governance to how we care for our colleagues, and from our environmental impact to 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 focussing on improving.

 

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. 

 

  • Read more

    Within our 2020 Company Accounts we included climate related disclosures and summarised our progress against our purpose ambitions. 

    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 all 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 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 Black, Asian and minority ethnic colleagues, and have taken actions according to the NatWest Group Report on Racial Equality.
    • We provide 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 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, and therefore not detailed in our Impact Assessment,  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.

     

 

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. We are working on setting specific Coutts environmental targets.

    • 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 an ambition that 50% of our mortgage book is secured against homes with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rated C or above by 2030. Clients who are purchasing an energy efficient property, with an A or B  EPC rating, or clients improving their EPC rating to C or above after choosing a mortgage with Coutts could be eligible for a discount on their arrangement fee, up to 12 months after completion.
    • We address climate in our clients’ investments in a number of ways. We are part of the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative and have set strict carbon targets. We exclude high-impact fossil fuels from our investments and use our voting rights to engage and drive change, in partnership with EOS at Federated Hermes.  
    • We also have an innovative e-mobility offering from Coutts and Octopus Energy for businesses and clients – find out more about this here.

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

     

 

customers

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 over 500 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.

    We are proud that some B Corps have already entrusted their banking to us and will be delighted to work with other clients that might be inspired to consider joining the B Corp community.  

    If you’d like to learn more about the B Corp journey for a business you’re connected to, please email our Sustainability Director, Alison Robb who’d be delighted to help

     

WHo else is a b corp?

There are currently over 500 B Corps in the UK and over 3,000 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. You can see our online assessment here: bimpactassessment.net/

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

When you become a client of Coutts, you'll be part of an exclusive network

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