INVESTMENT BANKING

The Finethic project aims at strengthening the sector-based policies and the coordination of the RSE processes.

Corporate & Investment Banking

Set up in May 2008, the role of the Corporate and Social Responsibility function within Société Générale's Corporate and Investing Banking arm (SGCIB/CSR) is to coordinate all Group initiatives worldwide and to ensure that the bank meets each of its commitments and lives up to the expectations of its stakeholders when it comes to social development and the protection of the environment.

Today, the function's objectives are focused around three core domains:
  • Responsible financing: To promote and emphasise the responsibility of the Corporate and Investment Bank in its day-to-day activities
  • Direct environmental impact: To limit and reduce the bank's direct impact on the environment and, more specifically, to ensure the Group meets the target it set itself in achieving Carbon Neutrality.
  • The Citizenship Program: To encourage the company's general involvement in supporting underprivileged communities and the active participation of staff in activities and associations that promote social integration through education.
To achieve these objectives, the new SG CIB department has launched "Finethic" – a new initiative aimed at increasing the extent to which environmental and social criteria are factored into the Group's sector financing policy and the coordination of its different processes. Set up in line with the Equator Principles which voted Société Générale onto its Steering Committee in May 2008, Projethic is a similar Group initiative that plays an increasingly important part in project financing. In fact, efforts are ongoing to extend these intrinsic values to all of the bank's lending activities.
Our objective for 2009 is to further reinforce our policy focus and initiatives within each of these 3 domains.
Business principles programme in 2008
In March 2008, SG CIB launched a programme to introduce a set of 5 "Business Principles" to staff as guidelines to be integrated into their professional lives and decision-making processes. Based on the group values of Innovation, Team Spirit and Professionalism, the Business Principles are a formalisation of values and principles inherent to SG CIB culture. A year after their launch, over 10.000 SG CIB managers and staff members worldwide have participated in on-line trainings and in-person information and discussion sessions to ensure that the Business Principles do not remain simple words on a page, but become fully integrated into our day-to-day activities.
  • Our clients come first
  • We are personally accountable
  • Our professionalism is based on rigour and transparency
  • We value courage and discipline
  • Our people are our strength