Study of materiality

The Bank monitors on an ongoing basis the impact of its activities on the environment. The following are used for the assessment:

• audit of stakeholders’ opinions,
• analysis of topics taken at the General Meetings of Shareholders,
• contacts with investors,
• communication with rating agencies,
• communication with the media and non-governmental organizations,
• opinions of sectoral analysts,
• customer and employee feedback survey,
• analysis of irregularities,
• analysis of complaints,
• collaboration with subsidiaries,
• data analysis tools

There were no significant changes in business activities, business relationships and the manner of operations conducted in 2023. The list of relevant stakeholders has not changed as well.

As a result of the conducted analyses, 13 topics were identified in which the Bank’s Group has a significant impact on the environment and stakeholders. Following the GRI standard, the criterion for selecting the topics was the economic, environmental and human impact, including human rights. The list of topics did not change compared to the previous year. For each topic, the strength of impact was assessed and the topics were ranked according to the order of impact – from the largest to the lowest impact. Three groups of topics were distinguished according to the influence of:

• critical topics that carry the risk of significant violation of customer interests in a way that may threaten future business conduct,
• topics that pose serious risks to the environment, but do not violate the stability of business,
• topics that take into account the impact on stakeholders but are limited to a selected group.

Existing governance policies and principles have been reviewed for each topic and described in detail in section 13.6. It was analysed whether the activities conducted by the Bank and subsidiaries belonging to the Bank’s Group may have a significant negative impact on each of the material topics. Where this possibility was identified, the description of potential impact mechanism of actions taken by the Bank was added.

The study of materiality showed that the Bank and most of the subsidiaries have appropriate policies in all areas encompassed by the Statement, while the risks, which are considered to be key, have already been identified in the risk management process. The Statement contains descriptions of the risks identified in the Bank’s Group to which the principle of “comply or explain” was applied: an explanation was added to information on the lack of full coordination of selected policies at the Group level.