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REPORT TO SOCIETY 2017 Standard Bank Namibia’s
72

Book 3.indb - The Corporate Reporters

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Page 1: Book 3.indb - The Corporate Reporters

REPORT TO SOCIETY2017

Standard Bank Namibia’s

Page 2: Book 3.indb - The Corporate Reporters

Standard Bank Namibia’s

REPORT TO SOCIETY 2017

The following icons are applied throughout the report to improve usability and show the integration between the relevant elements of the report.

NAVIGATIONAL ICONS

CONTENTS2 About this report

4 About Standard Bank Namibia

5 Our footprint

6 Our value creation story

8 In, for and across Africa

10 Creating shared value for Namibia

12 Our strategic objectives and material focus areas

14 Our integrated pillars of operation

ARAnnual report RTS

Report to Society page reference

16 Measuring our strategic progress

18 Measuring our sustainability progress

20 Leadership review –

Joint statement from the chairman and chief executive

22 Our material focus areas:

Deliver sustainable financial services

26

Recruit, retain and motivate

our employees

32

ONE THREE

Put the client at the centre of

everything we do

28

TWO

Page 3: Book 3.indb - The Corporate Reporters

Embrace innovation

42

FIVE

Keep abreast of the pace, volume and scale of regulatory change

38

FOUR

Establish and maintain IT system stability

44

SIX

48 Managing our impact

50 Brand management

51 Our commitment to transformation

56 Our corporate social investment (CSI) initiatives

58 Procuring from local suppliers

60 Our environmental impact

64 Governance and ethics

69 Contact details

1SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017

Page 4: Book 3.indb - The Corporate Reporters

ScopeWe present our sustainability performance in relation to material focus areas strategically important to Standard Bank Namibia. An issue is material if it has the potential to affect our commercial viability or social relevance. Such significant issues may have an impact on Namibia’s economic growth and political or social stability, or specifically affect stakeholders’ perceptions and decisions regarding Standard Bank Namibia.

Our key performance indicators (KPIs) are aligned to our material focus areas. As this is our second year of reporting, historical data is not yet available for certain indicators. Where possible, we have reported a three-year comparison. Our KPI tables are presented at the beginning of each material focus area.

Our environmental data is not sourced centrally, which makes accurate and comprehensive reporting difficult. We are investigating ways to improve the collection of this information to establish a baseline of environmental measures for more precise reporting in future.

We consider both the direct and indirect social and environmental impacts of our services and financial offerings.

Although we set internal targets to measure progress against KPIs, we do not report these publicly.

We do not consider our supply chain an area of material environmental risk and it is therefore not covered in this report.

ABOUT THIS REPORT

REPORTING TO OUR BROADER STAKEHOLDERSThis report is intended mainly for those stakeholders with whom we have direct relationships and regular communication. They include our shareholders, customers and clients, employees, government and regulatory authorities, industry bodies and service providers. Our broader stakeholders are those we engage with from time to time on particular issues or projects, as well as those on whom our business activities may have a direct or indirect impact.

FEEDBACKWe welcome the views of our stakeholders on this report.

To offer feedback, please contact Sigrid Tjijorokisa: Head: Legal and Governance at [email protected]

OversightThe Board Audit sub-committee oversees the sustainability reporting process. The committee recommended the report for approval to the Standard Bank Namibia SBN Holdings Board of Directors, and approval was obtained by the SBN Holdings Limited Board of Directors on 6 August 2018.

2

Page 5: Book 3.indb - The Corporate Reporters

OUR SUITE OF REPORTS

ANNUAL REPORT

The Annual Report, our primary report for our shareholders, provides a holistic assessment of how our strategy, governance, performance and prospects create value over time.

AR

We recognise that we engage a diverse set of stakeholders with varied information needs. To meet these needs, we produce the following reports:

REPORT TO SOCIETY

This Report to Society 2017 is for a broader set of stakeholders. The report covers our operations and the material focus areas in relation to our strategy.

RTS

In this, our second Report to Society, we present a snapshot of our sustainability performance for the year ended 31 December 2017. This report is intended to communicate, in a concise and accessible way, how we create shared value for you. We focus on the material issues that affect you and our ability to fulfil our purpose:

AFRICA IS OUR HOME, WE DRIVE HER GROWTH.

This report

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 3

Page 6: Book 3.indb - The Corporate Reporters

From humble beginnings of three branches, Standard Bank now has a distribution network of 61 branches and 303 ATMs across Namibia. Our workforce has grown to over 1 700 employees and our roots have extended deep into the fabric of Namibian society.

Standard Bank is committed to making banking available to all Namibians.

Standard Bank opened its first commercial branch in August 1915 in Lüderitz, making it one of Namibia’s oldest companies today.

We have evolved and adapted together with our customers and clients, developing a rich heritage while nurturing and protecting our reputation. We uphold high standards of corporate governance, are committed to advancing the principles and practices of sustainable development and are inspired to advance national development objectives.

Our success and growth over the long term are built on making a difference in the communities in which we operate. We are commercially and morally bound to serve Namibia and her people, in return for the long-term profitable growth we envisage as a leading financial services group on the continent.

303ATMs

NAMIBIA IS OUR HOME, WE DRIVE HER GROWTH.

OUR COMPANY STRUCTURE

Purros Investments

Trust

Standard Bank Group

90%

10%

SBN HOLDINGS

Stanfin (Namibia)

Standard Insurance

Brokers (Namibia)

Standard Bank

Namibia

100%

Standard Bank

Namibia Nominees

100%

ABOUT STANDARD BANK NAMIBIAOver the years, our customers and clients have come to rely on us to understand their needs, employ people with strong knowledge of local business conditions and connect borrowers with lenders. We are proud to be part of Standard Bank Group, a large financial services organisation rooted in Africa and with operations in 22 countries.

OUR LISTINGS AND SHAREHOLDERS

Headquartered in Windhoek, SBN Holdings is 90% owned by Standard Bank Group and 10% owned

by Purros Investments Trust, our staff empowerment scheme.

Branches

61

1 729Employees over

4

Page 7: Book 3.indb - The Corporate Reporters

OUR FOOTPRINTThe credo of the bank is simple, the approach direct, and the results are positive.

WE OFFER A COMPLETE RANGE OF FINANCIAL SERVICES, BE IT CORPORATE, COMMERCIAL, PERSONAL OR BUSINESS BANKING.

We have an extensive branch network and ATMs all over Namibia, with specialist support divisions such as Standard Insurance Brokers, Vehicle and Asset Finance and our Home Loans Department.

Standard Bank was the first commercial bank to open its doors in Lüderitz in 1915.

Lüderitz

Rosh Pinah

Keetmanshoop

Maltahohe Mariental

Aranos

Rehoboth

WINDHOEKWalvis Bay

SwakopmundArandis

Omaruru

Okahandja

Gobabis

Otjinene

OtjiwarongoKhorixas

Outjo

Tsumeb

RunduOndangwaOngwediva

Eenhana

Opuwo

Okahao

OkalongoOshikango

Ruacana Nkurenkuru

Katima Mulilo

Grootfontein

Outapi

Omuthiya

Bethanie

Aussenkehr

Otavi

Henties Bay

Oshakati

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 5

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OUR VALUE CREATION STORY

Governance approach to value creation over time

Our governance approach promotes strategic decision making that combines long-term and shorter-term outcomes, to reconcile the interests of the group and society while we pursue sustainable value.

Our group strategy is focused on creating shared value and represents our commitment to the shared future we intend to build for our clients, our people and our other stakeholders.

Our clients are at the centre of everything we do. They are the central organising principle in our work to build a digital bank, redesign our operating models, develop our people and change our culture – which together will create a long-term, sustainable competitive advantage.

Our business units and corporate functions have aligned their operating strategies to the group strategy to ensure effective and coordinated execution within and across our operations for the benefit of our clients.

Our strategy is achieved within the parameters of our risk appetite, which implies conscious risk taking. To enable regular changes to our risk appetite in response to challenges in our operating context, we are instilling a risk-aware culture throughout the group and continually enhancing our risk management capabilities.

Our strategy represents an effective approach to the structural shifts in our industry. Global megatrends such as the technological revolution, increasing stakeholder pressure and socioeconomic and environmental challenges are imposing the need for wide-reaching transformation in the way we do business.

We remain flexible in our strategic responses to the cyclical pressures in our markets. We identify pockets of opportunity for revenue generation, and employ well-developed risk models to anticipate and manage the impact of risks that are heightened during times of economic stress.

Responding to our stakeholders

Our stakeholders are the providers of the capital we need to create value. Stakeholder inclusivity and responsiveness enables us to secure and maintain these inputs, and to identify opportunities and challenges.

Clients

Performance linked to value creationWe are embedding a high-performance culture and creating an environment in which our people are empowered and motivated to deliver exceptional client experiences, and are rewarded for their contribution towards realising our purpose and vision.

Remuneration that drives value over timeOur reward philosophy is being evolved to reflect the group strategy. We combine reward elements that link directly to strategic and financial performance criteria and thresholds.

Remuneration awards are discretionary to avoid penalising staff for factors outside their control that impact on value creation.

Our material issues synthesise the interests of the group and those of its stakeholders. These issues connect to our value drivers, direct the focus of our strategic planning and management priorities, and inform our reporting to stakeholders.

Managing economic headwinds

Acting on our material issues

Group strategy

Bus

iness

units and corporate functions

Risk appetiteOperating context

Our clients

RTS 12–13

See ‘Our strategic objectives and material focus areas’ on page 12 to 13 and ‘Our material focus areas’ on page 22 to 47.

6

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DRIVING NAMIBIA’S GROWTH OVER THE LONG TERMOur multigenerational purpose recognises that Namibia’s wellbeing and that of the group depend on each other. We are committed to Namibian growth that is inclusive and sustainable, and in turn secures viable markets for our long-term profitability and value creation.

CREATING VALUE FOR SOCIETYSocial relevance is fundamental to our survival and success, and is implied in our purpose and vision.

We are moving towards measuring our social returns, and obtaining a truer picture of our broad value outcomes. This involves identifying the SEE risks and opportunities that Namibia presents and how our business activities can respond to these.

CREATING VALUE FOR THE GROUPOur strategic value drivers align our allocation of resources to our strategy. We have identified five key value drivers, shown below, and continue to work on selecting the appropriate metrics for each, which are supporting more effective resource allocation and appropriate trade-off decisions.

• Client focus • Employee engagement • Risk and trust • Culture of continuous

improvement• Social, economic and

environmental (SEE)outcomes

Shareholders and investment

analysts

Employees and their

representatives

Communities and civil society

Suppliers

Embracing innovation

Putting our clients’ best interests at the centre of our

business

Leveraging our investments

in IT

Motivating our people

Managing regulatory

change

Governments and

regulators

Ethical and effective leadershipEthical and effective leadership relates to uniting purpose and performance. Embedding an ethical culture recognises that the trust of our stakeholders is the basis on which we compete and win.

Corporate citizenshipCorporate citizenship relates to the integral role we play in the socioeconomic wellbeing of Namibia. It commits us to using our resources responsibly as inputs to our business model, and balances our needs with those of society.

Sustainable developmentSustainable development commits us to enhance the resources and relationships we rely on today, for the future. Our plans to measure social, environmental and economic returns, will enable us to account for the total returns we deliver in line with our purpose.

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 7

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Tanzania

Angola

Zambia

Namibia

Botswana

Zimbabwe

South Africa Lesotho

Eswatini

Mauritius

Malawi

Ethiopia (representative

office)South Sudan

Nigeria

Ghana

Côte d’Ivoire

KenyaUganda

Democratic Republic of

Congo

Mozambique

WEST AFRICA

SOUTH AND

CENTRAL AFRICA

SOUTH AFRICA

EAST AFRICA

IN, FOR AND ACROSS AFRICA

Our diverse portfolio of operations has demonstrated resilience in withstanding cyclical pressures of generally slower economic growth and low commodity prices, and the spill-over effects of currency dislocation, regulatory reactivity and socio-political instability. Our contribution to driving more inclusive growth and promoting policy reform that supports economic diversification and development over the long term, will assist in extending Africa’s structural growth path notwithstanding the immediate economic challenges.

Our purpose-led strategy is designed to realise the opportunities presented by Africa’s longer-term structural trends.

Africa’s relative underdevelopment enables the implementation of the latest technologies, leapfrogging older technologies such as fixed-line communications with mobile networks, and coal-fired power with renewable energy.

50% of Africans will live in cities by 20301

Africa’s rapid rate of urbanisation is expected to continue rising from 36% in 2010 to 50% in 2030. This conglomeration of people provides governments and businesses with an opportunity to lower the cost of providing products and services.

200 million Africans aged 15 to 24 by 20504

Africa’s population is expected to double by 2050. With an estimated median age of 20, Africa’s youthful population will place increasing pressure on governments and businesses to drive employment growth as a greater number of Africans reach working age.

1.5 billion Africans of working age (15 to 64) by 20503

Africa’s working population is currently 659 million people, expected to grow to 861 million by 2020 and 1.5 billion by 2050.

28.7% of Africans are

online2

5.4% average GDP growth in sub-Saharan Africa from 2005 to 20156

GDP growth in Africa as a whole for the same period was slightly lower at 4.0%. This compares to the global average of 3.8% and 1.5% growth in developed economies over the same period.

136% increase in inter-Africa trade from 2005 to 20155

Inter-Africa trade increased from USD28.8 billion in 2005 to USD68 billion in 2015.

AFRICA

Facilitating Africa’s growth

We are well positioned to facilitate the growing

interregional trade and investment flows across the continent, to assist the economic growth of African countries and the expansion

of multinationals into Africa.

8

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CHINA

47.8% growth in China-Africa foreign direct investment (FDI)7

FDI into Africa from China is shifting from extraction to manufacturing industries.

CONNECTING AFRICA TO DEVELOPED WORLD ECONOMIC CENTRES Our presence in, and connection with, global financial centres enables us to facilitate investment and development flows into Africa, and to access international capital to facilitate growth, diversification and development in Africa.

USD929 billion in world trade with Africa in 20157

This represents a 178% increase from USD334 billion a decade ago. About 70% of Africa’s exports are metals and minerals, indicating the need for economic diversification.

One-third of the world’s mineral reserves are in Africa11

The continent also has 10% of world oil reserves and the largest cobalt and diamond reserves in the world, and 95% of the world’s platinum reserves are located in South Africa. Commodities remain fundamental to modern economies, and Africa’s resources remain largely either undiscovered or underexploited.

38.4% less Africans living below the international poverty line over the last decade10

Africans living below USD1.9 a day has fallen to 39.1% compared to 63.5% a decade ago.

60% of the world’s arable land is in Africa9

The underutilisation of arable land across the continent holds vast potential for increased commercial agriculture and production of agricultural goods. Mitigating the impact of climate change will be an essential part of realising this potential.

FACILITATING CHINA-AFRICA TRADE AND INVESTMENTChina remains Africa’s largest trading partner and an increasingly important source of foreign investment across Africa. Our strategic partnership with ICBC provides us with a unique opportunity to provide financial services to clients operating in the China-Africa corridor.

1 African Development Bank – Urbanization in Africa (2012).

2 Internet World Stats (June 2016) – www.internetworldstats.com.

3 UN Population Statistics.

4 Africa Economic Outlook – Promoting Youth Employment in Africa (2012).

5 International Trade Centre.

6 International Monetary Fund; Standard Bank Research.

7 Annualised compound growth Overseas Development Institute (ODI, 2016).

8 African Development Bank – Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

9 World Bank.

10 African Development Bank.

11 Economics Intelligence Unit – African Development Bank.

31% of capital flowing into Africa is from worker remittances8

Remittances replaced foreign aid as the largest external inflow to Africa in 2009, as Africa’s dependence on official development assistance eased by 18.7% to USD83.7 billion in 2015, from USD103 billion in 2014.

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 9

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CREATING SHARED VALUE FOR NAMIBIA

OUR STRATEGYOur strategy represents our commitment to Namibia and to the shared future that we are creating with our customers, our people and all our stakeholders.

How we will execute our strategy

Guiding principles• The promises we make

to our clients

• The way we execute

• The culture we wish to build for our people.

The behaviours and qualities that define us at our best

Our values• Serving our customers

• Growing our people

• Delivering to our shareholders

• Being proactive

• Working in teams

• Constantly raising the bar

• Respecting each other

• Upholding the highest levels of integrity.

Why we can confidently fulfil our purpose

Our legitimacy• Our more than 100-year heritage and brand

• Our commitment to our customers and clients and the trust they have in us

• Our pioneering spirit

• Our presence in Namibia, Africa and beyond

• Our commercial pragmatism

• Our brave long-term decisions

• Our passion for Namibia and Africa

• Our great people.

• Risk

• Finance

• IT

• Operations

• Human capital

• Marketing and communication

• Compliance

• Legal

• Internal audit

• PBB credit

• Office of the CE

• CIB credit

OUR CORPORATE FUNCTIONS

OUR BUSINESS UNITS

OtherCorporate and

Investment Banking (CIB)

Personal and Business Banking

(PBB)

40.06%

59.94%

Our people

1 729

The reason we exist

PurposeNamibia is our home, we drive her growth.

What we aspire to be

VisionWhat if we place our customers at the centre of who we are and what we do?

10

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ECONOMIC VALUE CREATED FOR NAMIBIA

CSI

N$4.6 million

Various corporate taxes incurred

N$234 million

Various taxes collected on behalf

of government (e.g. PAYE)

N$252 million

Total tax

N$486 million

DISTRIBUTIONS SUPPORTING OUR ECONOMIES AND SOCIETIES

Salaries

N$723 million

Taxation (direct only)

N$180 million

Distributed as dividends

N$240 million

Total income

N$2 193 million

Suppliers and operational charges

N$589 million

Bad debts

N$97 million

Remaining income

N$1 507 million

Reinvested

N$364 million

Innovative technology

ATMs303

61

Wide branch network

branches

RESULTS IN

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 11

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OUR STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES AND MATERIAL FOCUS AREASIn 2015, our leadership team started implementing our 2015 to 2017 Tuyende (Let’s move!) strategy, which is based on a strong sense of common purpose and driven by coordinated teamwork across all planning and operations.

LINKING STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES AND MATERIAL FOCUS AREAS

2

Technology optimisation

The state-of-the-art systems and technologies that the bank has invested in and implemented over the last three years provide a foundation for system optimisation, efficiencies and cutting-edge innovation in the years ahead.

1

Client centricity

This strategic objective is to provide an excellent customer experience to everyone who engages with us. To do so, we will employ a culture of continuous improvements to our systems, processes, products and people, as well as a deep understanding of our customers’ needs and requirements.

3

Employer of choice

We want to position the bank as the employer of choice in Namibia. To this end, we have reviewed our staff engagement and recognition programmes and have aligned our training programmes with business requirements. We cannot achieve the change and progress we are planning without a strong, motivated, skilled and engaged workforce.

MATERIAL FOCUS AREAS

Deliver sustainable

financial services

Put the client at the centre of everything

we do

Recruit, retain and

motivate our employees

Keep abreast of the pace, volume and

scale of regulatory

change

Embrace innovation

Establish and maintain IT system stability

12

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AR For more information on our progress against our strategy, please see SBN’s Annual Report 2017.

6

Accelerated growth

All the above initiatives aim to accelerate our growth over the coming years. The management team has set itself ambitious but achievable targets for growth over the three-year strategy period.

4

Trusted and preferred

bank

This pillar of our strategy is aimed at making SBN the preferred bank in our chosen market segments, supported by products and services that meet our customers’ needs. This pillar involves adding value for our customers in our key products and focus segments to ensure that we stay relevant and preferred.

5

Continuous innovation

Given the journey that the bank has travelled in the implementation of the new core banking system, our priority will be to review and update our processes, products and services to optimise the new core banking system. In order to make this possible, we are creating an enabling environment where new ideas, opportunities for change and continuous improvement can flourish.

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 13

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OUR INTEGRATED PILLARS OF OPERATION

Our third business area includes centralised support functions (back office), including those functions that were previously embedded in the business segments. The direct costs of these support functions are charged to the business segments.

OTHER AND ENABLERS

PROFIT AFTER TAX (PAT)

N$9 million2016: N$11 million

CONTRIBUTION TO HEADLINE EARNINGS

1%

PBB provides banking and other financial services to individual customers and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

PROFIT AFTER TAX (PAT)

N$321 million2016: N$310 million

CONTRIBUTION TO HEADLINE EARNINGS

59%

PERSONAL AND BUSINESS BANKING (PBB)

CIB offers corporate and investment banking services to its clients, which include governments, parastatals, larger corporates, financial institutions and international counterparties.

CORPORATE AND INVESTMENT BANKING (CIB)

PROFIT AFTER TAX (PAT)

N$216 million2016: N$218 million

CONTRIBUTION TO HEADLINE EARNINGS

40%

14

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Our offering

Our offering

Instalment sale and finance leases

Mortgage lending

Transactional products

Card products

Bancassurance

Lending products

Transactional products and services

Global markets

Investment banking

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 15

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MEASURING OUR STRATEGIC PROGRESS

WHAT THIS MEANS

PLACING CLIENTS AT THE CENTRE OF

EVERYTHING WE DO

MAKING STANDARD BANK A GREAT

PLACE TO WORK

HOW THE DRIVER ALIGNS WITH OUR STRATEGY

Clients are at the heart of our business and by focusing on them, we will achieve a profitable and sustainable business. We aim to consistently create excellent client experiences by understanding our clients and by offering the products, services and solutions that our clients need.

We strive to create a great place to work where our people feel deeply connected with our purpose and our clients, are empowered, receive recognition for delivering against our strategic objectives, and have made the most of every opportunity to achieve their full potential. How our people think and feel about work directly correlates with our client satisfaction levels and our ability to execute our strategy.

HOW WE MEASURE OUR PROGRESS AND PERFORMANCE

To understand our clients better we measure their satisfaction in terms of:

• Net promoter score (NPS) for PBB

• Client satisfaction index (CSI) for CIB.

These scores are determined from client surveys conducted in phases throughout the year to obtain an annual result.

To determine engagement levels, we consider the Deloitte Best Company to Work For Survey.

WHAT WE ARE WORKING TOWARDS

Over and above these existing measures, the group is looking to develop a holistic client experience measure across segments, business units and geographies. We are re-designing our processes from a customer’s perspective, through our Tuyende Revolution Programme, which is expected to be completed in 2018.

The employee survey will be conducted annually across the group.

OUR PERFORMANCE IN EXECUTING OUR STRATEGY The results of our client surveys indicate

that we have met their service expectations. We will continue to explore ways to improve our results.

We have shown progress according to the Deloitte Best Company to Work For Survey, with an engagement index of 68.77 against the international benchmark of 67.78.

CLIENT FOCUS

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

STRATEGIC VALUE

DRIVERS

16

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Our entire group worked to develop clearly defined strategic value drivers. These drivers provide the group and our stakeholders with transparent and consolidated information that we believe is most relevant to measure our sustainability, lead strategy and performance in delivering value to our stakeholders.

SUPPORTING OUR CLIENTS BY DOING THE RIGHT BUSINESS THE

RIGHT WAY

DELIVERING VALUE TO OUR

SHAREHOLDERS

CREATING AND MAINTAINING

SHARED VALUE

Complying with regulatory requirements enforced by the government and other regulators is a function of our legitimacy and our values – we must do the right business the right way. This enables us to build resilience, which enables us to help drive Namibia’s growth and to realise our vision.

Value creation for our shareholders is an important part of our strategy and this is measured by the group’s financial outcomes. These are directly linked to and dependent on client satisfaction, employee engagement and risk value drivers.

Our strategy centres on sustainability. We achieve our purpose of driving Namibia’s growth by delivering social, economic and environmental (SEE) value.

The following measures are considered to ensure that we have a resilient and compliant business:

• Total capital ratio

• Systems availability

• Liquidity coverage ratio (LCR).

The primary measures of our financial outcome are:

• Cost to income (CTI)

• Credit loss ratio (CLR)

• Profit after tax (PAT)

• Return on equity (ROE).

Social value: This is the value for society, both internally with staff and externally with other stakeholders.

Environmental value: This is the value for the environment, created through conscious and responsible lending.

Economic value: We drive economic growth in Namibia through creating social and environmental value, which also leads to more innovative and profitable ways of doing business.

These measures will evolve as a result of both accounting and regulatory changes, such as IFRS 9 financial instruments, Basel III and King IV. These ratios as well as systems availability will continue to be used to monitor the resilience of the group’s balance sheet.

The financial outcomes remain key measures of our value creation for our shareholders. Our focus is to maintain the CTI at acceptable levels and the CLR within the group’s risk appetite, and to grow headline earning and ultimately our ROE to deliver superior returns to our shareholders.

RTS See ‘Our material focus areas’ on pages 12 to 13 and 22 to 23 for a detailed explanation of the progress we have made during the year.

We are compliant with laws and regulations and have built a resilient balance sheet, which allows us to take carefully considered risks in the search for alternative opportunities for growth and in continuing to do the right business the right way:

• NSFR: 97% (2016: 102%)

• LCR: 96.39% (2016: 96.39%)

• RWA: 68% (2016: 72%)

• Our systems availability has kept improving over the last three years.

We have produced satisfactory results for the year despite the global and local economic challenges:

• CTI: 59.82% (2016: 59.53%)

• CLR: 0.49% (2016: 0.50%)

• PAT: N$546 million (2016: N$540 million)

• ROE: 18.56% (2016: 20.88%).

The following is a summary of our SEE results:

Social value:• CSI: N$4.6 million

(2016: N$4.7 million)

• Buy-a-Brick houses built 54 houses (2016: 44 houses).

Economic value:• Decrease in loans and advances: 6.2%

(2016: 12%).

RISK AND TRUST

FINANCIAL OUTCOME

SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL OUTCOME

Progress to be made

Satisfactory results

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 17

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MEASURING OUR SUSTAINABILITY PROGRESSWe are committed to reporting transparently to our stakeholders on our sustainability progress.

RANKED

The Deloitte Best Company to Work

For Survey:Engagement index: 68.77 vs

benchmark 67.78Best Company index: 61.35 vs

benchmark 62.2

PROFIT AFTER TAX

N$546 million2016: N$539 million

RETURN ON EQUITY

18.6%2016: 20.9%

EMPLOYEE TURNOVER RATE

6.92%2016: 7.85%

WOMEN EMPLOYEES AS A PERCENTAGE OF THE WORKFORCE

59.94%2016: 59%

COST-TO-INCOME RATIO

59.82%2016: 59.53%

CREDIT LOSS RATIO

0.49%2016: 0.50%

TRAINING SPEND BUDGET:

N$16 million2017: N$10.01 million; 2016: N$10 million

MARKET SHARE BY ASSETS (AVERAGE)

24.05%2016: 10.45%

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UNION MEMBERSHIP

90%

2016: 79%

TOTAL ASSETS

N$30.8 billion2016: N$27.2 billion

FINANCIAL SECTOR CHARTER COMPLIANCE

71%

2016: 81%

RETAIL BANKING CLIENTS

327 4312016: 308 441

PROCUREMENT SPEND –of the total,

22% is spent with local broad-based black

economic empowerment suppliers

2016: 32%

NET PROMOTER SCORE

7.52016: -2.5

CSI SPEND

N$4.6 million2016: N$4.7 million

NUMBER OF CRITICAL AND HIGH IT INCIDENTS

1642016: 217

WEALTH CREATED

N$1.6 million2016: N$1.5 million

TOTAL LOANS AND ADVANCES

N$20 billion2016: N$18.9 billion

Progress has been made and Standard Bank Namibia is satisfied with our performance

Areas for further improvement

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 19

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LEADERSHIP REVIEW

JOINT STATEMENT FROM THE CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE

OverviewAt Standard Bank Namibia, we recognise that good governance is paramount to creating, protecting and sustaining shareholder value. Our governance structures ensure we have embedded an ethical and accountable culture within our business, providing the foundation upon which sustainable practices can flourish.

This report is produced to record our belief that the bank’s sustainability is indivisibly linked to the success of the broader communities we serve. As a responsible financial institution, we work closely with stakeholders to enhance financial security, create employment and build the infrastructure that secures a better future for all involved. With more than 100 years as local bankers to Namibians, we are committed to being responsible corporate citizens of our country.

In 2017 the Namibian economy faced a recession, with government debt at elevated levels and likely making it more expensive for government to borrow with Moody’s downgrade to sub-investment status. Due to their linked central bank rates, African Reserve Bank (SARB) decisions also limited the Bank of Namibia’s policy and monetary options.

Peaks, troughs and recessions are characteristics of the business cycle, but we cannot overlook that during the 2017 recession, growth in private sector credit extensions slowed dramatically and non-performing loans rose across much of Namibia’s banking industry.

Against this negative backdrop, Standard Bank Namibia recorded a resilient 2017 financial performance, with after-tax profit increasing by 1.2% during the year. Our capital position and liquidity remained strong, with a total capital adequacy ratio of 10% (well above minimum requirements) and liquid assets comfortably above prudential requirements.

Our Tuyende strategy is aimed at helping our customers to grow and thrive, so that we can

collectively contribute to a sustainable and growing Namibian economy. In planning our strategy for the 2018 to 2020 cycle, we envision placing the customer uncompromisingly at the centre of who we are and what we do. This vision requires us to accelerate our efforts to revolutionise our processes, products, structures and operating model according to what customers want.

Doing upright and ethical business means being aware of the indirect impacts of our actions, such as how we operate and the legacies we leave for future generations. We are embedding a ‘conscious risk-taking’ approach into our culture, which means being transparent about the social, economic and environmental impacts of every project or deal in which we get involved.

“Against this negative backdrop, Standard Bank Namibia recorded a resilient 2017 financial performance, with after-tax profit increasing by 1.2% during the year. Our capital position and liquidity remained strong, with a total capital adequacy ratio of 10% (well above minimum requirements) and liquid assets comfortably above prudential requirements.”

Herbert Maier and Vetumbuavi Mungunda

20

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Customer focusOur customer processes and touch points underwent a redesign to improve the customer experience and by the end of December 2017 these were implemented at 10 branches. By December 2018 we intend completing the redesign of all our customer processes.

Our customers have welcomed these enhancements with open arms and we will continue building on these to improve customer service turnaround times even further.

In October 2017 we commenced replacing our older generation ATM machines with new state-of-the-art versions. We also installed 30 cash deposit-taking ATM machines countrywide to enable customers to make cash deposits without needing to enter branches.

To broaden our physical footprint across a widespread country, we opened new points of representation in Oniipa, Okakarara, Karibib and Okongo, and upgraded the Grootfontein, Otjiwarongo, Aranos, Rosh Pinah, Khorixas and Rehoboth branches, while also relocating the Omuthiya branch to a new refurbished facility.

Culture of continuous improvementFollowing a review of the preferences and demands of our customers, we launched a “Pioneers” product for young professionals. We also refreshed our Youth products and brought in additional lending products for customers earning below N$7 500. In line with Tuyende, we will continue engaging with our customers in 2018 to inform further improvements to our products and processes.

Employer of choiceFor the past two years Standard Bank has participated in the Best Company and Engagement indices of the Deloitte Best Company Survey. Ideally an organisation should achieve a benchmark of 62.2 on the Best Company index and 67.78 on the Engagement index. Standard Bank scored 68.77 on the Engagement index and 61.35 on the Best Company index.

While we celebrate exceeding the Engagement index benchmark, we just missed the Best Company index by 0.85. Issues needing attention have been prioritised for rectification.

To reward and motivate employees further, we introduced employee preferential rates for housing and car financing, as well as discounted transactional fees.

The bank invested over N$1.8 million into coaching talent, senior managers and executives. Over 40 staff members underwent the coaching development programme in 2016 and 2017, with more entering the programme in 2018. Leadership team regularly interacts with the workforce in the monthly Tuyende sessions and the Executive Roadshows, held twice a year. These efforts enable us to identify talent and build a succession planning pipeline.

Corporate Social Investment (CSI) highlightsStandard Bank committed over N$4.6 million to CSI programmes in 2017. In line with our purpose, “Namibia is our home, we drive her growth”, we invest into education, entrepreneurship and enterprise development, community health and wellness, and environmental issues.

Buy-a-Brick, our biggest CSI project, mobilises Namibians to contribute or donate token bricks. The N$2 million collected in 2017 was handed over to the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia and funded the construction of 54 houses in Berseba, Otjinene and Windhoek’s informal settlements. We are intensifying our Buy-a-Brick campaigning to raise sufficient funds to build over 100 houses every year for low-and-no-income Namibians.

To sensitise the business community to the plight of the homeless, the bank hosted a chief executive officer’s outreach conference on the housing shortage in Windhoek in conjunction with the Ministry of Rural and Urban Development.

Outlook for 2018Namibia’s macroeconomic environment deteriorated throughout 2017, compounded by scarce local liquidity and sharper than expected contractions in construction, wholesale and retail trade. Growth is expected to resume in 2018 and accelerate to about 4% by 2020 due to a recovery in the wholesale and retail trade sectors, along with mining sector growth.

We believe, however, that the Namibian government could speed up the recovery through structural changes to reduce government expenditure. Trimming down the number of state owned enterprises (SOEs) through divestitures, listings and public-private partnerships is a proven solution for reducing expenditure and raising capital. This bold move should complement and partially finance increased investment into water and electricity infrastructure, for example, to further accelerate economic growth, while enabling productive lives for many more struggling Namibians.

AcknowledgementsTo our employees, for your tireless efforts and commitment to growing SBN as the trusted and preferred bank – thank you. To the Standard Bank Group, our sincere appreciation for your support, through which we can offer better solutions to our customers.

Finally, a word to our customers, the people of Namibia – you are our inspiration.

As we look to the year ahead, we remain steadfast in our commitment to doing the right business the right way. In this context, we continue embedding a culture of responsible business practices. Our purpose as an organisation remains firm – Namibia is our home and we support her growth.

Mr H Maier Mr VJ MungundaChairman Chief executive

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 21

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OUR MATERIAL FOCUS AREAS

DIR

ECT

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HIP

S W

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Our material matters are a combination of risks and opportunities that could substantially affect our ability to create value in the short, medium or long term.

We believe that by identifying the matters that are most material to our business, including social, environmental and ethical aspects, we improve our understanding of stakeholder expectations and the drivers of our legitimacy – or social licence – to operate. In so doing, we can prioritise our resources in the most efficient and sustainable manner.

The bank identified and prioritised the six most important material matters in our operations during 2017, as discussed in more detail further in this report.

Type of engagement

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT Building and maintaining good relationships have a positive impact on our business activities and reputation. We engage with stakeholders to inform our business strategy and operations, shape our products and services, manage and respond to social expectations, minimise reputational risk and form strong partnerships. The ways in which we engage with our stakeholders, and the frequency with which we do so, vary according to each stakeholder group.

Engagement with our stakeholders features throughout the discussion of our material focus areas, on page 12 to 13 and on the pages that follow. We work to ensure that we meet our stakeholders’ legitimate needs and expectations. Where misalignments or conflicts are identified, we aim to resolve these at the business unit or, when required, at executive level. Mechanisms are in place for stakeholders to communicate grievances.

Stakeholder group

Customers and clients

Employees and trade unions

Industry bodies

Service providers

Media

Government and regulatory authorities

Shareholders, ratings agencies, financial analysts and the business community

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INDIRECT RELAT

ION

SH

IPS

WH

ER

E E

NG

AG

EMENT

TAKES PLACE FR

OM

TIM

E T

O T

IME

ON

SP

ECIFIC ISSUES

Type of engagement

Stakeholder group

Business associations

Communities we operate in, including bursary and

scholarship recipients and institutions of higher learning

Research organisations

Civil society groups

Community development non-governmental

organisations

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 23

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Wh

y is

it m

ater

ial?

Bo

ard

or

man

agem

ent

com

mit

tees

res

po

nsi

ble

Key

sta

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(a

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and

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FOCUS AREA

• SBN Holdings board

• Board audit committee

• Board risk committee

• Board credit committee and various management committees.

• SBN Holdings board

• Board audit committee

• Board risk committee

• Board credit committee and various management committees.

• SBN Holdings board

• Board human capital subcommittee.

Remaining financially sustainable means we are able to:

• Access the capital required to invest in our infrastructure, projects and businesses, which in turn enhances our ability to serve our clients

• Deliver dividends and grow the investment of our shareholders, who provide our financial capital

• Create and sustain employment

• Significantly contribute to the national treasury through taxes.

• Employees and trade unions

• Customers and clients

• Shareholders, ratings agencies, financial analysts and the business community

• Government and regulatory authorities.

To sustain our business performance, we must remain responsive to the market in which we operate. We must know with whom we are doing business and how we are doing business with them while constantly being guided by our values. It is essential to maintain our reputation for absolute integrity, comply with our regulatory obligations and do the right business the right way.

• Employees and trade unions

• Customers and clients.

Finding, keeping and developing empowered and motivated people lie at the core of our success and strengthen our competitive advantage. How our people think and feel about work directly correlates with client satisfaction levels. We believe that harnessing the full potential of our people is essential for superior customer and client experiences.

• Employees and trade unions

• Customers and clients.

Deliver sustainable

financial services

Put the client at the centre of everything

we do

Recruit, retain and motivate

our employees

ONE TWO THREE

24

OUR MATERIAL FOCUS AREAS

Page 27: Book 3.indb - The Corporate Reporters

Wh

y is

it m

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Bo

ard

or

man

agem

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com

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res

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ble

Key

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(a

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and

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on

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• SBN Holdings board

• Board audit committee

• Board risk committee

• Board credit committee and exco

• Operational risk management and credit committee.

• Board. • SBN Holdings board

• Board audit committee

• Board risk committee

• Board credit committee and various management committees.

The volume of regulatory change is due to several factors, including international reform of the financial sector following the global financial crisis of 2008. New regulation has a direct bearing on day-to-day operations and processes, such as pricing decisions and product design, as well as decisions about our ethics and culture.

• Employees and trade unions

• Industry bodies

• Government and regulatory authorities.

We provide clients with similar products and services to other financial institutions in the same market. Innovation enables us to be competitive, meet our strategic objectives, be relevant in our markets and attract and retain critical talent.

• Employees and trade unions

• Customers and clients

• Shareholders, ratings agencies, financial analysts and the business community.

IT directly impacts how we interact with and serve our clients. We therefore view IT as a strategic asset that creates sustainable value by enabling our growth and ability to achieve operational excellence.

• Employees and trade unions

• Customers and clients.

Keep abreast of the pace, volume

and scale of regulatory change

Embrace innovation

Establish and maintain

IT system stability

FOUR FIVE SIX

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 25

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OUR INTENTPart of our strategy is to deliver sustainable, long-term financial performance by realising accelerated growth. Remaining financially sustainable is essential to our success.

OUR APPROACHOur 2017 financial statements, presented in the SBN Holdings Limited Annual Report, are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards and have been audited by the independent auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers.

HIGHLIGHTS2017

Loans and advances grew

by 6.2% in 2017 (12% in 2016).

The group’s liquidity position

remains strong with appropriate liquidity

buffers of N$3.2 billion above regulatory requirements at

31 December 2017.

The group maintained a well-capitalised

position based on total capital adequacy (15.25),

tier 1 capital adequacy (13.33) and tier 1

leverage (1.92) ratios.

Change % 2017 2016

ROE (11.2) 18.56 20.89Profit for the year

(N$’000) 1.2 545 925 539 686Tier 1 capital

adequacy ratio1 (11.9) 11.17 12.68Loans and advances

to customers (N$’000) 6.2 20 059 977 18 887 656

Deposits from customers (N$’000) 15.8 24 345 680 21 027 603

Non-interest revenue to total income 0.1 43.32 42.89

Net interest margin (10.6) 4.31 4.84Credit loss ratio (3.5) 0.49 0.50Cost-to-income ratio 0.5 59.82 59.53

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORSFinancial results and key ratios

1 Excluding unappropriated profits.

DELIVER SUSTAINABLE FINANCIAL SERVICES

DEPOSITS FROM CUSTOMERS

(N$’000)

2017

24 345 680

2016

21 027 603

26

ONE

Page 29: Book 3.indb - The Corporate Reporters

OUR PERFORMANCE IN 2017Other operating expenses decreased by 3.2% thanks to the positive impact of the once-off systems implementation-related cost of N$54 million, which was written off during 2016, and other cost-management initiatives.

Total assets increased by 13.6% to N$31 billion. The main contributor was the increase in other assets, financial investments, loans and advances.

Loans and advances clients were up 6.2% on the prior year. Growth occurred mainly in mortgage (13.4), overdrafts and other demand loans (7.7%) and term lending (6.6%) products. We noted a contraction in instalment sale and finance leases as a result of a change in BON policy regarding the financing of vehicles. In PBB faster turnaround times and improved service offerings contributed to the growth, while CIB was able to secure substantial deals due to competitive terms.

Total liabilities increased by 13.9% to N$27.9 billion. The increase is mostly due to increased deposits by customers.

Deposits from customers increased by 15.8%. Significant growth occurred in negotiable certificates of deposits (35.3%) and call deposits (43.9%), reflecting the liquidity pressures faced by consumers in Namibia.

Liquidity and capital management: the group’s tier 1 capital was N$2 825 million at 31 December 2017 (2016: N$2 554 million) and total capital was N$3 229 million at 31 December 2017 (2016: N$2 942 million). The change in the group’s capital was primarily due to an increase in retained earnings offset by dividends paid.

Despite high levels of macroeconomic and policy uncertainty in Namibia, SBN Holdings group’s profit after tax increased by 1.2% in 2017 to N$546 million. Loans and advances to clients increased by 6.2%. The cost of funding increased significantly during 2017, resulting in a 14.5% increase in interest expense; net interest margin decreased to 4.31% from 4.83%. The group experienced a negative JAWS ratio of 0.5%, partly due to significant investments in staff. This is also reflected in the cost to income ratio, which increased from 59.53% to 59.82%. The group’s return on equity decreased to 18.6% from 20.9%.

This result bears testimony to the resilience of the group’s operations and the actions taken by management to position the group’s operations to absorb the impact of the recession, to identify growth opportunities and preserve our financial performance in a challenging operating environment.

Net interest income increased by 1.9%. While interest income grew by 7.8%, interest expense grew by 14.5%. Net interest margins shrank with the reduction in the repo rate during the period. Net interest margin also contracted as a result of the increase in interest expense as a consequence of liquidity challenges in the economy and deposit growth from longer-term products which are more expensive. Interest income growth derives mainly from higher volumes; there is little opportunity to change pricing to compensate for increased cost of funding or higher credit costs resulting from IFRS 9.

Non-interest revenue grew by 3.7%, which is stable, with growth in underlying activity being hampered by the increased cost of delivery. Net fee and commission revenue decreased by 4.7%, trading revenue increased by 1.2% and other revenue grew by 161%.

Net fee and commission revenue increased despite limited increases in account transaction fees. The increase was due to higher volumes in electronic banking channels even though these carry lower fees than traditional banking channels. On the corporate side, increased earnings in the form of higher guarantee and arrangement fee incomes were offset by substantial increases in cash handling fees and other direct costs.

Trading revenue increased marginally as a result of higher volumes.

Other revenue increased mainly due to higher dividends earned on investments.

Credit impairments increased by 6.7%. At the same time the credit loss ratio improved to 0.49% from 0.50%. In spite of a negative and often uncertain economy, with depressed consumer spending, the bank managed to control impairment growth, thanks partly to new recovery strategies and enhanced monitoring implemented in 2016, which continued to be effective.

Operating expenses increased by 3.1%. The group continues to invest in staff and infrastructure to provide excellent customer service and achieve our strategic priorities. We maintained tight control on costs while investing for long-term growth.

Staff costs increased by 9.0%, partly because of new branches opening as well as our general capacity investment in the branch network. Furthermore, we continually adjust our salaries to remain competitive and retain top talent.

AR Details of our financial performance can be found in the 2017 SBN Holdings Limited Annual Report.

ENGAGING WITH OUR SHAREHOLDERS AND ANALYSTS

Our finance team facilitates ongoing engagement with our shareholders and analysts.

Shareholders are encouraged to attend the annual general meeting, where the chair of the board audit committee is available to respond to questions.

In 2017, engagement with investors and analysts centred on our risk management framework and cost management.

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 27

Deliver sustainable financial services

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OUR INTENT We aim to be the preferred bank in our chosen market segments, supported by solutions and services that meet our clients’ needs. We will achieve this by earning our clients’ trust, which requires continually enhancing our technical competencies and innovation capabilities to offer products and services aligned to their changing needs and banking preferences. Developing new business models will help us move beyond the limits of traditional banking.

OUR APPROACHBecoming the most trusted and preferred bank expresses our ambition to focus business activities around our clients. We tailor our key products and segments, including business banking, small and medium enterprises, private banking, power and energy, and mining and infrastructure, to meet our customers’ needs. Doing so ensures internal and external clarity about the value we offer our clients.

We have implemented the key principles of the Bank of Namibia’s Consumer Protection Guidelines, which sets standards for treating and interacting with clients.

The nature of our business provides access to our clients’ personal information. Keeping this information private and confidential is a key aspect of good market conduct. Our data privacy policy, available to all employees on our intranet, governs the privacy of all client information. Every employee is required to sign a confidentiality agreement, and we regularly check compliance.

Our compliance policy covers transparent pricing and ensures that clients are fully informed of all costs. New clients and existing clients opening a new account receive printed material on the general fees and costs associated with the product. Charges are also verbally explained by our frontline staff.

Because we value customer satisfaction highly, we make it easy for clients to lodge complaints and grievances by providing various ways for them to do so. We take every complaint seriously, follow up until it is resolved and make improvements where necessary.

Financial crime evolves continuously and criminals are using increasingly sophisticated technologies and approaches. We aim, first, to prevent financial crime and, second, to minimise the impact of financial crime on clients when it occurs. We do not tolerate any form of financial crime, including fraud, theft, bribery and corruption, terrorist financing or money laundering. The bank has a dedicated financial crime control function, supported by policies that cover financial crime, anti-bribery and corruption, whistle blowing, unnecessary gifts and entertainment.

HIGHLIGHTS2017

PUT THE CLIENT AT THE CENTRE OF EVERYTHING WE DO

We reviewed and refreshed our

products for key segments of our customer base.

We improved turnaround

times for home loans from

65 days in 2016 to 53 days

in 2017.

28

TWO

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We increased our market share for vehicle and asset

finance to 27.55% from 27.17% in 2016.

2017 2016 2015

Number of retail customersClassic 218 472 208 302 90 366Achiever 56 466 54 980 17 070Prestige 24 756 20 369 4 935Private banking 4 650 4 418 5 806Business banking 23 087 20 372 Not available

Total number of PBB customers 327 431 308 441 118 177

Number of branchesBranches including service centres 61 56 53

Automatic teller machines (ATMs)Standard Bank-owned ATMs 304 266 220Number of transactions 13 652 975 13 798 783 13 592 806

Internet bankingRegistered subscribers 160 820 133 312 Not availableActive subscribers 95 959 Not available Not availableNumber of transactions 1 985 831 1 549 525 1 491 984

Mobile bankingRegistered subscribers 97 230 76 403 Not availableActive subscribers 14 952 Not available Not availableNumber of transactions 542 757 314 642 Not availableSMS alert subscribers 285 058 249 404 193 375

Customer experienceNumber of customer complaints 388 576 959

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

We reduced our non-

performing loans ratio in PBB to 3.34%

from 2.86% in 2016.

We prevented a total potential fraud loss of

N$1.7 million (2016: N$1.3 million).

We opened three new points of representation in different parts

of the country.

Number of transactions

1 985 831

INTERNET BANKING

Active subscribers

95 959

Registered subscribers

160 820

We reduced our non-

performing loans ratio in PBB to 3.34%

from 2.86% in 2016.

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 29

Put the client at the centre of everything we do

Page 32: Book 3.indb - The Corporate Reporters

OUR PERFORMANCE IN 2017

Customer engagementOur biannual customer engagement forums, led by our customer engagement teams, continue to inform change and improve overall customer service. In 2017, two customer forums targeting various banking segments were held.

We refreshed our products for key segments of our customer base. This process will continue in 2018, with products being continually reviewed in view of evolving customer needs and requirements.

The bank holds open feedback sessions every two months, in which our social media manager chats live to customers on certain topics and products. These sessions are well received and our customers appreciate the instant feedback.

We use the globally accepted net promoter score (NPS) to gauge customer perception as a key measure of our retail customers’ experience. NPS assesses loyalty by asking customers whether they would recommend Standard Bank to their family, colleagues and friends. We are designing customer experience training in line with our Tuyende principles to address low NPS scores. The bank is also investigating a queue management system, which includes automated NPS analysis, to survey customer perceptions in our branches.

Customer satisfaction managementCustomers can log complaints via telephone with a toll-free number, face to face, by emailing branch managers or by contacting the customer experience team. Complaint boxes are provided in branches for customers to provide feedback, and an SMS facility (0819286) is also available for reporting complaints and giving compliments.

Reference numbers are provided for every query or complaint logged with the customer care centre, together with an expected timeframe for feedback. If a branch manager or call centre cannot resolve the complaint, it is referred higher to the customer experience team. All complaints are tracked via internal systems and reports are compiled monthly on the complaints process. Findings gathered from the complaints process are reported to the executive team, together with root cause analyses to enable the implementation of corrective measures.

Self-service channelsOur self-service channels are key enablers of our strategy to become the preferred bank in Namibia by offering customers the ability to transact more simply, quickly and cheaply. To be competitive, our self-service experience must be fast, secure and reliable, and we must continually develop new functionality in all these channels.

In 2017, we focused on monitoring and improving our ATM operational time and expanding our ATM reach. A total of 12 Standard Bank-owned ATMs and a further 25 merchant-funded ATMs expanded our network into selected areas. Standard Bank Namibia also invested in a new brand of ATMs called NCR, replacing the older Diebold ones. These ATMs allow real-time cash deposits by our cardholders. We have 23 real-time cash deposit ATMs at our key branches countrywide, with 40 planned by mid-2018. We also introduced new ATM functional screens with animations to improve the customer experience. All our ATMs are Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) certified.

The Standard Bank BlueVoucher, a new money transfer mechanism, was launched at the end of 2015. Customers can access BlueVoucher through internet and mobile banking to send money to a local cellphone number. Recipients receive an SMS with the voucher details and can redeem the cash at a Standard Bank ATM.

A mobile wallet was launched in early 2016 (BlueWallet), which offers clients access to a virtual account, regardless of where they bank. The service was enhanced in September 2017 and additional enhancements are coming into effect in the first quarter of 2018. These include a mobile app (in addition to the unstructured supplementary service data or USSD now used) and the option to link a debit or credit card to pay from or fund the wallet directly.

Customers without smartphones can do basic banking with USSD cellphone banking, for which the demand is still growing. Value-added services, such as BlueWallet and BlueVoucher, are available to these customers.

Branches and call centresWe continue to improve the look and feel of our branches to give customers a better experience. During 2017, three new points of representation opened: in Karibib, Okakarara and Oniipa. We also revamped the Walvis Bay, Otavi, Khorixas, Rehoboth, Otjiwarongo, Otjinene, Nkurenkuru and Grootfontein branches to enhance customer experience. Arandis and Omuthiya were relocated into newly refurbished facilities. Our expansion and refurbishment efforts will continue in 2018.

30

Put the client at the centre of everything we do continued

OUR MATERIAL FOCUS AREAS

Page 33: Book 3.indb - The Corporate Reporters

Credit Verifying that customers can afford to repay their debt and assisting them to make prudent debt choices ensures the quality of our lending book. An electronic behaviour scoring system monitors how customers manage their accounts and informs our credit granting decisions. This system ensures that we do not advance loans and overdrafts to customers who cannot afford them.

Our approach to lending covers origination and evaluation, account collateral management, rehabilitation and recoveries. Regular risk reviews ensure that minimum standards are maintained within our stipulated business risk appetite.

During 2017, our partly decentralised credit function enabled better informed decision-making and faster turnaround times. Our enhanced products, processes and structures reduced turnaround times for home loans to 53 days in 2017 (2016: 65), and increased market share for vehicle and asset finance to 27.55% (2016: 27.17%). During 2017, Delegations of Authority (DAs) for Credit Officers were finalised. A job description evaluation process has been implemented in the Tuyende linked branches.

Our non-performing loans ratio increased to 2.54% (2016: 2.28%) due to the current strained economic climate in Namibia.

There is a stringent application process and an electronic behaviour scoring system in place that protects both the customer and our bank. This system also allows us to detect early warning signs of customers in financial difficulty, so that we can act to avoid further indebtedness. Assistance depends on each customer’s unique circumstances and includes negotiating short to medium-term payment arrangements, extended tenures and loan restructures.

Secure banking Employee fraud, internet fraud, card fraud (especially at merchants), corruption and conflicts of interest are our top financial crime focus areas. Employee fraud refers to cases where anyone working for the bank, whether a permanent or temporary employee or contractor, is dishonest or conducts themselves in a fraudulent manner. This includes involvement in illegal banking transactions, stealing bank funds, stealing customer or bank information (and inappropriately disclosing such information to third parties), or inadequately adhering to vendor management procedures. Employees found to be committing fraud face disciplinary action and criminal prosecution. In addition, our dismissal broadcast system publishes the high-level details, including ID number, name of the offender, position in the company and offence, of employees dismissed as a result of dishonesty and serious misconduct. Should a staff member be convicted in a court of law, the individual’s name, position, offence and sanction are published as a deterrent against employee fraud. In 2017, the teller role was again identified as a high-risk position, given that these employees constantly handle hard cash.

During 2017, 24 possibly fraudulent activities (2016: 23) were reported through FraudStop, which prevented a total potential fraud loss of N$1.7 million (2016: N$1.3 million).

The FraudStop programme is designed to motivate our people to report all fraud

regardless of value. Employees who report fraud through the programme stand to win N$1 million after tax in an annual draw. Smaller financial rewards are awarded to runners-up and monthly winners. Employees gain financial crime control awareness through online training and regular communication.

Procedures are in place to confirm customer requests received via internet banking (referred to as secure messaging). When customers transact (transferring money in their accounts), the authentication process helps to prevent fraudsters from gaining access to a customer’s profile and transacting on it without the customer’s knowledge. We use the internet banking platform and our blog page to deliver financial crime information and prevention tips to customers, so that they are aware of phishing attacks. Our credit card monitoring system questions transactions and helps prevent credit card fraud.

We support global efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. A dedicated money laundering control officer is responsible for ensuring that regulatory requirements are met, as well as the minimum standards set by Standard Bank Group. Our anti-money laundering and suspicious activity monitoring programmes enhance our ability to detect and report suspicious activity. Basic anti-money laundering and terrorist financing control training is mandatory for all employees, with specialised training in place for those staff members in higher-risk positions.

Possibly fraudulent activities reported

24

Prevented a total potential fraud loss of

N$1.7 million

FRAUDSTOP

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 31

Put the client at the centre of everything we do

Page 34: Book 3.indb - The Corporate Reporters

OUR INTENTOur employees are fundamental to ensuring the bank’s sustainability. They are the custodians of interaction with our customers and the key to maintaining a competitive advantage. To attract, retain and motivate our staff, we are positioning the bank as the employer of choice in Namibia. We aim to create a great place to work where our people feel deeply connected with our clients, empowered to grow their careers and recognised for their achievements.

HIGHLIGHTS2017

We achieved an overall employee

engagement score of 68.77 in the Deloitte

Best Company to Work For Survey.

Our training investment increased to N$10 million.

We introduced the We

Care Fund.

We implemented our new employee value proposition.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

1 BAWON: Bank Workers Union of Namibia.2 NAFINU: Namibian Financial Institutions Union.

2017 2016 2015

Number of employees 1 729 1 693 1 574Number of women employees 1 037 994 925Training spend (millions) 10.01 10.0 5.8Training spend as a percentage

of staff payroll (%) 1.67 1.27 1.0Number of leadership

development participants 119 115 85Number of learning academy

and graduate development participants 7 22 Not available

Staff attrition level (%) 6.92 10.49 11.50Union membership

BAWON1 743 718 642NAFINU2 506 374 362

RECRUIT, RETAIN AND MOTIVATE OUR EMPLOYEES

OUR APPROACH The board’s human capital subcommittee oversees our people management practices and compensation structures. Our human capital practices are designed to create a caring and fair work environment for all our people and enhance our employees’ working conditions.

The following pages provide an overview of Standard Bank Namibia’s approach to career development, diversity and inclusion, employee benefits, health and wellness, occupational health and safety, and employee relations.

We introduced the Tuyende series staff

engagement sessions.

2017

1 037

WOMEN EMPLOYEES

2016

994

32

THREE

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Career developmentBy creating a culture of ongoing learning and adaptability, we can develop the various skills and product knowledge our people need to execute our strategy.

Succession planning is in place for key leadership posts. We identify talented individuals for intensive development based on their past performance and potential to lead and propel the business towards its goals.

A high-performance culture is critical to our ability to execute our strategy. Our performance management process is designed to ensure that employees understand their roles in doing so. All staff members have performance contracts that are reviewed annually.

Health and wellnessWe offer employee health screening to identify high-risk conditions and enrol such employees on appropriate health management programmes. These screenings include cholesterol, glucose and blood pressure tests, as well as voluntary HIV counselling and testing.

We offer a total incapacity benefit and a temporary incapacity programme for employees unable to perform their duties for an extended period due to ill health but who are expected to recover. We measure absenteeism and generate high-level reports.

Independent counselling and advisory services (ICAS), a free and confidential support service, is available to our employees and their immediate families. ICAS counsellors can be contacted by phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

BenefitsWe provide a range of competitive benefits to attract, motivate and retain our employees. Over 88.4% of our permanent employees are members of Namibia Health Plan (NHP) Medical Aid Fund, with the remainder being dependants of other registered medical scheme members. The NHP Medical Aid covers in-hospital and outpatient benefits, an HIV programme, and over-the-counter medicine. The included HIV programme provides access to quality healthcare, information and advice on treatment, counselling, antiretroviral therapy and mother-to-child transmission prevention for pregnant mothers.

Female employees receive fully paid maternity leave of 90 working days, consisting of one month prior to and two months after birth, in line with statutory requirements. Five working days of fully paid parental leave per annum is available to women and men. These benefits also apply to parents legally adopting children up to the age of 17.

Where feasible, we have introduced the option of flexible working arrangements to improve the work-life balance of parents.

Diversity and inclusionWe are committed to increased diversity and inclusion in order to create a workforce that is locally relevant and reflects Namibia’s society. Our approach to diversity considers employment equity alongside gender equity and disability management and is measured in terms of the Namibian Financial Sector Charter (NFSC).

As a leading African bank, we believe that diversity is essential for good business. Diversity provides the varied perspectives that inform investment in new markets, working with clients across the globe and seeking outstanding talent. Diversity is critical for success in a fast-moving and cosmopolitan world.

We have instituted guiding principles to ensure that a culture of inclusion is embedded across the bank so that we engage authentically with our diverse customers. These principles state that we will:

RTS 51–55

Our commitment to transformation is discussed in more detail on page 51 to 55.

OUR PERFORMANCE IN 2017

Value the diversity of our customers and their need for innovative financial solutions to meet their needs.

Nurture an inclusive culture that empowers our employees to work together on the best innovative solutions for our customers, shareholders and societies.

Leverage our intrinsic employee diversity to benefit our customers.

1

2

3

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 33

Recruit, retain and motivate our employees

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Our disciplinary and grievance policy outlines

the staff discipline, grievance and dispute

process.

Employees can choose to be

accompanied by trade union representatives at disciplinary, grievance and appeal hearings.

If no resolution can be found, employees are able to refer their case

to the Labour Commission for conciliation or arbitration.

Employee relations

Occupational health and safetyWe are committed to safe working environments governed by a health and safety management framework that goes well beyond minimum occupational health and safety (OHS) requirements. This framework also applies to any customer or contractor who enters our buildings.

The bank’s OHS policy, published in 2017, meets all applicable statutory and regulatory obligations. Where relevant, it also aligns with international safety, health and environment standards. Our OHS policy includes risk assessments and regular audits of adherence to procedures, as well as emergency preparedness and building evacuation drills.

The chief executive is responsible for ensuring that the OHS duties set out in the Labour Act are properly discharged. The chief executive is supported in this function by an OHS committee that oversees the OHS management system, supports business units and promotes a culture of health and safety in the workplace.

Health and safety working committees, attended by employer representatives, are responsible for OHS in their work areas. These committees appoint and monitor our first aiders, firefighters, employee safety representatives and evacuation officers, and ensure that these OHS officials are properly trained.

Our service level agreements with contractors, which include health and safety requirements, are being reviewed to improve safe working practices. Banking is regarded as a low-risk sector for injury severity.

Our OHS incidents mainly consist of slips and trips on floors and stairs, motor vehicle accidents and back injuries as a result of carrying heavy objects. During 2017, 17 work-related incidents were reported (2016: 9) of which one was a client injury, five were minor injuries, two occurred during team building events, seven involved near misses, and two were potentially catastrophic events if early detection hadn’t taken place.

Our priorities for 2017 were emergency management, preparing emergency evacuation procedures, contractor management, incident management and awareness creation.

Despite steady progress already made, we remain committed to continually improving our OHS performance.

PURPOSE AND PRACTICESAligning our culture and people practices to our purpose, vision and values requires continual focus on:

• Innovative work practices and processes that put the client at the centre of everything we do.

• Employment policies that resonate with our people and create an emotional connection with the work they do.

• A safe, fair and inclusive work environment, particularly during times of increased global and local socioeconomic uncertainty.

• Talented people ready to take up more senior and critical roles when required.

• A diverse leadership base, passionate about helping our people reach their full potential and able to lead in times of uncertainty.

• Development programmes to support an agile workforce that adapts to an ever-changing world.

• Technology platforms that simplify our human resource practices.

The bank adheres to local and international labour regulations and legislation. We respect the individual and collective rights

of our people and actively engage with recognised

trade unions. No strike action was reported in 2017.

The human capital department provides training to employees

on the disciplinary and grievance policy procedures and

to line managers on how to resolve grievances.

34

Recruit, retain and motivate our employees continued

OUR MATERIAL FOCUS AREAS

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Engaging with our peopleTo understand what motivates and inspires our people, and where we can improve the work environment, we regularly engage with the entire workforce through various mechanisms. We discuss strategy, developments and new employee conditions to hear their views and concerns. Employee engagements in 2017 included:

• Discussion of the enhanced employee benefits

• Monthly Tuyende series employee engagement sessions

• Monthly orientation sessions and new joint executive engagement sessions across the country

• Employee engagement and values-based behaviour survey

• Leadership conference and innovation forum

• Various ad hoc fun days and employee functions.

Our staff profileSome staff turnover is healthy for any organisation as it creates opportunities to attract new talent and to provide career advancement for those in the organisation. Against a local banking sector turnover rate of around 10%, our turnover rate of 7.11% is within industry norms. No retrenchments took place during 2017, but our staff complement grew significantly with the opening of seven new branches countrywide.

Employer of choiceThe Deloitte Best Company to

Work for Survey has a benchmark of 62.2 on the Best Company index and 67.78 on the Engagement

index. We celebrate scoring 68.77 on the Engagement index, which is above the benchmark, but we just

missed the Best Company index by 0.85. We have

prioritised the issues needing attention to keep improving the experience of our staff.

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 35

Recruit, retain and motivate our employees

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Talent management Talent is vital for succeeding in a fast-paced, highly competitive industry with ever-changing demands. We need to consistently attract and retain smart, independent thinkers who are focused, tenacious and energetic, and who will keep our business agile and innovative. Our people must be equipped to maintain a client-focused approach now and into the future. To do this, we need the right people in the right roles with the required skills and capabilities. This is a complex undertaking in a competitive environment, where skills remain scarce.

Tuyende emphasises the importance of empowering our people and developing great leaders. Our talent mapping process identifies candidates based on potential and performance. We expose talented individuals to board and executive meetings as well as to strategy formulation in leadership and talent engagement sessions. Talent management includes stretch assignments for talented individuals and financial assistance for employees lacking the funds to study.

Effective succession planning is fundamental to mitigate loss of knowledge, to fill capability gaps and continue innovation for sustained growth. The bank provides opportunities for growth by giving preference to internal candidates when vacancies become available.

The board is satisfied that our current talent pool, and the work being done to strengthen talent, will provide adequate succession depth in the short, medium and long term.

To enhance our talent, we have a graduate development programme covering areas such as IT, credit, corporate and investment banking, finance, and retail and commercial banking. Individual programmes run over 36 months and offer on-the-job experiences that expose participants to various aspects of the bank. Graduates may undertake relevant travel. Eight women and five men participated in the graduate programme.

We invest in developing young people who have scarce or specialised skills and the potential to become future leaders. During 2016, 47 employees received assistance with the cost of their tertiary studies, with 57 employees commencing the programme in 2017.

Leadership developmentGood leadership allows innovation and motivation to flourish. Our leaders are inspiring individuals who combat mediocrity and promote a high-performance culture. Specific leaders are selected for further development through leadership programmes, which are particularly meant for senior managers, team leaders and women in middle management roles. Executive and senior managers have access to coaching and mentoring.

In order to build a strong and resilient leadership pipeline for sustainability purposes, the bank invested over N$1.8 million in a coaching programme for new talent, senior managers and executives. More than 40 staff members underwent coaching development in 2016 and 2017, and the programme will be extended to more staff members during 2018. The leadership team continues to engage staff throughout the bank regularly via the Tuyende series sessions held monthly and Executive Roadshows held twice a year.

36

Recruit, retain and motivate our employees continued

OUR MATERIAL FOCUS AREAS

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Learning and developmentDeveloping our people’s skills is fundamental to remaining at the forefront of banking. In 2017, we invested N$10 million in learning and development (2016: N$10 million).

The private banking academy and our sales force featured high in our learning and development efforts. In 2017, developing the following critical skills was our priority:

• Credit skills

• Customer interaction skills

• Core banking skills

• Forex skills

• Working with our transactional products and services.

Recognition Our recognition programmes are an important part of our employment practices and support the culture we are establishing among our people. Success is celebrated, and employees feel valued for the effort they put in. All permanent and non-permanent employees receive performance reviews during the year.

Our recognition programmes for outstanding employees:

Employee benefitsOur employee benefits include a trial clinic at our Reger Park premises and the Standard Bank We Care Fund, a multipurpose fund that supports our employees through unforeseen circumstances such as sudden medical expenses, funeral expenses, educating children with special needs, or any serious mishap suffered by an employee. Standard Bank employees contribute to the fund voluntarily by means of a direct salary deduction. Fundraising events at departmental and group level are also used to finance the fund. Standard Bank matches these contributions.

Because we value the health and wellbeing of our employees, an in-house company doctor sees to their occupational health needs, including their fitness for work and any sick absence referrals.

We highlight the Standard Bank brand by making corporate wear available to frontline PBB employees.

Core benefits available to permanent and temporary employees are set out in the following table. These benefits were instituted to reward and retain the right people at the various levels of Standard Bank business.

Mark of Excellence, which rewards individuals.

Chief executive award, for individuals recognised by the chief executive.

Deal of the year awards for both PBB and CIB teams.

Individual awards for long service and retirement.

Performance bonuses for general staff not at management level.

BenefitPermanent employees

Temporaryemployees

Retirement provision

Life cover

Disability cover

Medical cover

Maternity leave

Paternity leave

Funeral benefits

Share ownership

Social security

Training levies

Home loan and VAF preferential rates and subsidised transaction fees

Beyond Excellence, which rewards individuals and teams.

1

6

5

4

3

2

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 37

Recruit, retain and motivate our employees

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KEEP ABREAST OF THE PACE, VOLUME AND SCALE OF REGULATORY CHANGE

HIGHLIGHTS2017

The bank achieved 99%

compliance with the Determination on the Localisation

of Core Banking Systems (BID-19).

Financial Services Charter

compliance reached 71%.

OUR INTENTWe are working to embed compliance in our operations in a manner that balances the interests of stakeholders with the long-term stability and growth of the Namibian financial market.

OUR APPROACHThe bank is working to keep abreast of the volume, scope and complexity of new regulations being introduced into the Namibian financial sector. This requires a forward-looking, pragmatic and well-coordinated approach. Compliance is important, as failures in compliance can result in substantial financial penalties and reputational damage, as well as loss of market share.

The board delegates responsibility for compliance to management, which monitors it through our inhouse compliance unit. Oversight of compliance risk management is delegated to the board audit committee. The compliance unit reports quarterly to the board audit committee on areas of non-compliance and provides feedback on interactions with regulators. Material regulatory issues are referred to the board risk committee, which informs the board of new legislation that may affect the bank.

Compliance training is mandatory and delivered to our employees online and face to face. Modules cover our code of ethics, conflicts of interest and outside business interests, personal account trading, market abuse (for CIB only), data privacy, treating customers fairly and receiving gifts and entertainment. Refresher training takes place every two years. Anti-money laundering compliance training, however, must be completed annually.

38

FOUR

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Regulators and the government are our partners in establishing sectoral legal compliance. We work with them to ensure that we remain up to date with the volume of new regulation. Staying compliant does take time and impacts on people and processes. However, regulatory change can also provide opportunities to improve our services and first introduce innovative products, services and risk mitigation strategies. These could translate into competitive advantages.

A constant challenge is ensuring that clients submit all the required documents. To help manage this, we are streamlining our processes and communicating extensively with our clients to ensure that they understand the process.

No significant fines or sanctions were incurred by SBN in 2017. By year-end, 682 employees had received compliance training, of whom 87% completed the minimum requirement of nine mandatory courses. In total, 15 courses were completed. Compliance training relating specifically to treating customers fairly was completed by 1 505 employees.

The bank has an online training platform option and we also provide face-to-face training for non-clerical employees. Besides training on banking aspects, we also provide general compliance awareness programmes for employees.

OUR PERFORMANCE IN 2017

Where possible, we contribute actively and constructively to developing national policy, legislation and regulation through formal submissions and regular engagement with policymakers, lawmakers and regulatory authorities. Our approach is guided by our aim to promote regulatory frameworks that are unambiguous, cohesive and practical, while also minimising unintended consequences. Continuous and constructive engagement is a critical focus area for managing regulatory change, not only to understand policy imperatives that lead to regulatory changes, but also to communicate potential challenges in implementing compliance processes. Early engagement with regulators also facilitates solutions that benefit all stakeholders, especially when regulatory change influences our day-to-day business procedures and therefore client experience.

Engagement with regulators takes place at both bank and industry level. Our membership of industry associations provides opportunities to interact on a range of issues, enabling us to contribute our views on emerging regulatory matters in industry-wide submissions to regulators.

Our compliance unit manages the bank’s relationship with primary regulators, the Bank of Namibia and the Financial Intelligence Centre. Communication with regulators and regulatory supervisors is undertaken by designated employees in a controlled framework.

ADVOCATING FOR AN EFFECTIVE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 39

Keep abreast of the pace, volume and scale of regulatory change

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REGULATORY CHANGES

Public Procurement Act The Public Procurement Act 15 of 2015 (“the Procurement Act”) was enacted by Parliament and came into operation on 1 April 2017. This Act impacts on the manner in which SBN procures work from State Owned Enterprises and other government enterprises, including local authorities.

Another implication is that when SBN advances funds to customers for projects awarded to such customers, or the procurement of goods and/or services from such customers by the applicable public entities, where necessary SBN will document undertakings that the customer warrants that due process was followed in the awarding of the tender. SBN must also request the letter of award and the agreement between the customer and the applicable public entity.

Amendments to the Credit Agreements ActThe Minister of Industrialisation, Trade and SME published the Government Notice Nr. 97 of 2017, in order to amend the Regulations (Gov. Notice AG. 68 of May 1981) to the Credit Agreements Act, 1980 (“the Credit Agreements Act”). This notice was applicable from date of publication and amended the regulations by deleting sub-regulations 4(1), (2) and (3). These sub-regulations related to a situation in which a credit receiver received a car allowance and was not bound by the provisions of the Act relating to deposit, maximum repayment periods or balloon repayment stipulations. Relevant SBN departments were informed of the changes and have complied.

Payment System Directive 8 – PSD 8The purpose of PSD 8 is to address and reduce non-compliance with any and all payment system directives, guidelines and regulations. Assessment principles and criteria were put in place to assess any cases of delayed compliance and the procedures and processes the Bank of Namibia must use to calculate appropriate administrative penalties. The relevant departments were informed of this directive and its potential impact if SBN is fined.

Public and Private Partnership Act, 2017This legislation provides a legal framework for public private partnership projects (PPPPs). It established a Public Private Partnership Committee to regulate PPPPs through the stages of initiation, preparation, procurement, concluding the partnership agreement and implementation. SBN departments involved with PPPPs were comprehensively briefed.

NAMFISA Levies, 2017Levies on Namibian Financial Institutions such as insurers and brokers, among others, were published by Namfisa under Government Notice 265 of 2017 and became effective on 1 November 2017. A portion of these levies may not be passed on to client, which impacts the bottom lines of affected financial institutions. The relevant departments in SBN were informed of the levies and possible impacts on their operations.

Regulatory framework

40

OUR MATERIAL FOCUS AREAS

Keep abreast of the pace, volume and scale of regulatory change continued

Page 43: Book 3.indb - The Corporate Reporters

Regulatory changes that significantly influence the bank, along with our responses, are listed as follows:

Regulatory change Directive to Strengthen Controls on Cross-border Remittances This revised Directive requires Authorised Dealers to: (a) treat all Single Discretionary Allowances, especially those related to “Gifts” and “Payments for Imports” services as inherently high risk and apply enhanced due diligence measures where ML/TF/PF risk exposure are not reduced to tolerable levels by existing controls; and (b) implement the specific directives to mitigate the risks inherent in transactions related to “Single Discretionary Allowances” and “Payments for imports”.

Our response We reviewed and amended our controls and processes to meet the new requirements.

Regulatory change Determination on the Appointment, Duties and Responsibilities of Directors, Principal Officers and Executive Officers of Banking Institutions and Controlling Companies (BID-1).

This determination sets out guiding principles relating to corporate governance in banking institutions and controlling companies. It also regulates the appointment, duties and responsibilities of directors, principal officers and executive officers of banking institutions and controlling companies. It aims to ensure that only fit and proper persons are appointed to serve on the board and run the affairs of banking institutions and controlling companies.

Our response We reviewed and amended our human capital procedures to ensure that the appointment of directors, principal officers and executive officers meets BID-1 requirements.

Regulatory change Determination on Information Security (BID-30).

Our response We have reviewed and amended our processes and procedures to meet the BID-30 requirements.

LOOKING AHEADThe increasing demands and complexity of regulatory developments at global, regional and national levels will remain a feature of our operating context. We are obligated to our customers, the government and regulators to remain up to date with changes.

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 41

Keep abreast of the pace, volume and scale of regulatory change

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EMBRACE INNOVATION

OUR INTENTEmbracing change is agile. We seek out solutions to stakeholder issues. We embrace innovation by encouraging thought leaders in our bank to help us remain relevant and nimble to provide the value customers seek. How Standard Bank embeds innovation into the business will help shape the economy that we and our customers participate in.

OUR APPROACHTechnological and societal disruption is sweeping through the financial services industry faster than many realise. We see innovation as a vital response to benefit our customers, promote business growth and improve performance. Promoting Namibia’s development depends on our ability to innovate and maintain relevance in an increasingly digital world.

We are inspired by the people for whom we create products and services. For us, innovation is finding ways to make financial services more cost-effective, convenient and relevant – to tailor solutions to meet diverse needs and preferences and to make life easier and better for Namibia’s people. We rise to the challenge by working with our employees and innovation partners to deliver better value for customers and clients.

Our recently launched SmartApp

enables customers to use their smartphones to bank anytime and

anywhere.

The bank introduced our

BlueWallet virtual account, which lets

our customers store, spend and save their

funds securely. HIGHLIGHTS2017

Our employees who deal directly with customers are the first-line providers of innovative ideas that can meet evolving client needs. That is why we instil and encourage an environment of creative problem solving. With internal competitions and innovation forums, we motivate our employees to brainstorm and develop fresh ways of serving our customers better.

2017 KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Number of processes redesigned in 2017 in terms of the Tuyende Revolution:

25 10

410 CUSTOMER

CALL CENTRE

HOME LOANS

BUSINESS BANKING

BRANCH

49TOTAL

We launched the Tuyende Revolution,

which is aimed at understanding our

customers more deeply and redesigning our processes to meet their real needs.

42

FIVE

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OUR PERFORMANCE IN 2017In our quest to remain relevant to the Namibian market and become the preferred bank, we launched several exciting initiatives, including:

In September 2016 the bank commenced a large scale reengineering of our processes under the banner of a project termed the “Tuyende Revolution”. Tuyende is aimed at uncovering what aspects of banking matters most to our customers.

In terms of Tuyende teams are reviewing our internal processes. They are gaining a deeper understanding of customer need and how our processes should be redesigned to meet their needs more efficiently.

Redesigning all our processes across the bank has reduced average turnaround times by 70 to 80%. For example, we redesigned our card replacement process from 32 to six minutes, our cash deposit process from 10 to two minutes, and our cash withdrawal process from nine to four minutes.

Customer inputs have also formed the basis for further technical improvements now being implemented.

LOOKING AHEADWe will continue to innovate and so improve the value we can offer to our clients. By creating an enabling environment to foster new ideas, we can take advantage of opportunities and service our customer base more effectively.

BlueWallet This product lets clients send cash to anyone who has a smartphone, which gives more people a simple, efficient way to access money.

• BlueFuel pre-paid launched in November 2017

• BlueFuel comprehensive fleet solution launched in Q2 2018

Refreshed online banking Designed to improve the customer experience.

ATM Real Time depositslaunched Q4 2017

Third party ATM real time deposits were introduced in July 2018, enabling SMEs to deposit cash outside banking hours and reduce the risk of being robbed.

SmartApp Our updated app enables personal and business accounts to be accessed simultaneously. Clients can pay beneficiaries, buy airtime and even apply to register accounts.

EMV debit cardsIntroducing EMV cards means our customers have better security on their accounts.

CashBack@POSOur newly launched CashBack@POS allows customers to use their debit or cheque card to process cashback transactions on merchant POS devices and receive cash directly from the merchant. This channel reduces client dependency on ATMs for cash.

TUYENDE REVOLUTION

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 43

Embrace innovation

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ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN IT SYSTEM STABILITY

OUR INTENTWe will keep enhancing and upgrading our IT infrastructure throughout the bank to provide a consistent, efficient and valuable banking experience for our customers. We will be agile in our responses to regulatory change and in developing innovative products and services.

The bank’s IT stability improved significantly in the past year, although our one-time password (OTP) delivery is still a concern. Our ATM network availability is improving and our point of sale (POS) network’s availability during the past year was good. Enriching the corporate and investment banking (CAB) forum and introducing the user acceptance testing (UAT) forum and scaled agile framework (SAFE) will help us to reach our stability goals in 2018. We are also enhancing security by building on the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) security blocks.

HIGHLIGHTS2017

OUR APPROACHThe SBN IT board subcommittee is responsible for reviewing, monitoring and providing guidance on matters related to our IT strategy, operations, policies and controls. An independent non-executive director chairs the committee and is supported by subject matter experts who provide technical input into projects. The board receives specific training on IT strategy and IT risk management in relation to industry updates and the current business environment.

2017 2016 2015

Number of critical and high IT incidents¹

164 217 196

ATM average inoperative time (%)

9.19 2.82 3.14

POS average operational time (%)

98.88 98.0 96.3

International link² average operational time (%)

98.32 99.9 99.7

Domestic link³ average operational time (%)

99.30 96.5 92.6

Number of Finacle calls logged

7 165 8 869 10 593

Number of deployments 12 4 Not available

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

1 Critical and high incidents have an impact on customers; critical ones a severe impact.2 The link that connects Standard Bank to the internet and South Africa.3 The network that connects Standard Bank’s branches and ATMs across Namibia.

NUMBER OF DEPLOYMENTS

2017

122016

4

44

SIX

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OUR PERFORMANCE IN 2017After several high-impact system stoppages, we introduced an IT stability programme in November 2016 to improve system up-time.

High and critical incidents 2017

30

25

20

15

10

5

Critical High

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

POS operational time 2017

99.10

99.05

99.00

98.95

98.90

98.85

98.80

98.75

98.70

98.65

Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Changes and times 2017

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

ATM operational time 2017

100

95

90

85

80

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 45

Establish and maintain IT system stability

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Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) cardThe new EMV card launched in Q1 2017 triggered new challenges with capturing transactions and settling the financial leg a few days later. Accepting and routing the cards, especially in international transactions, were also initially problematic but this was resolved as foreign banks updated their routing tables.

Governance forumsIn 2017 SBN’s change advisory board function was extended to include the business and finance departments, which delivered improved technical stability, supported by a UAT forum to assess projects in a test environment before being actualised.

Digital experienceIn 2016 SBN introduced our SmartApp and a redesigned internet banking site. SmartApp was the first banking app in the country that used fingerprint biometrics on Apple devices to authenticate customers. Our new internet banking application’s design responds to the user’s behaviour and environment based on screen size, platform and orientation.

Regulatory changesRegulatory projects attended to in 2017 included the Namibia Customer Migration (NCM), Payment Systems Directive 7 (PSD7) and PCI-DSS. These large projects required substantial change in our systems and processes.

The PCI-DSS project made substantial progress in 2017 and the quality security assessor was onsite in December to conduct the certification process. PCI-DSS is mainly aimed at the card division but also improves IT security progress to ensure a safe and secure environment for our customers as well as our employees. We are on track to receive our PCI-DSS certification in 2018.

46

Establish and maintain IT system stability continued

OUR MATERIAL FOCUS AREAS

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Domestic connectivitySatellite-based redundancy links have been introduced to our branches over the past two years. Although these satellite links are intrinsically slower, they help maintain a close to 100% operational time for our branches on core services such as Finacle and ATMs. Telecom Namibia won a tender to migrate our branches to its fibre network in early 2018.

IT monitoring bridgeA recently introduced IT system monitoring bridge notifies the IT operational team of incidents in real time, so that they can react quicker to events, with the objective of achieving 99.9% uptime in future.

ATM networkOur aging ATM network relied on Windows XP and utilised earlier generation Diebold screens. SBN decided that the time is right to upgrade ATM infrastructure and software, but a difficult support relationship with Diebold persuaded SBN to switch suppliers and introduce NCR-based ATMs. During the last quarter of the year, we introduced about 30 new NCR ATMs. We have improved the monitoring of ATMs and made substantial progress in increasing their operational time to make ATMs much better for customers to use from now on.

Scaled agile frameworkIn 2016 Standard Bank’s group IT introduced SAFE as a secure new way of online working, and although still in Namibia, SAFE has already yielded great results for on-time delivery of Namibia projects.

Another focus area for the year was to shorten the runtime of end-of-day and end-of-month processes. We optimised databases to reduce average runtimes by one hour, which enhances the POS transaction experience for operators and customers utilising the SBN POS interface.

30New NCR ATMs

99.9%

Monitoring capability will be increased in 2018 to achieve

Number of finacle calls logged

7 165 Satellite links helped us maintain a close to

100%

operational time in our systems.

operational time for our branches on core services

2017 ACHIEVEMENTS

LOOKING AHEAD• Continue improving

system stability, by implementing improvements such as an ATM monitoring and maintenance tool.

• Nurturing a high-performance culture that encourages innovation and attracts top local IT talent.

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 47

Establish and maintain IT system stability

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MANAGING OUR IMPACT

OUR INTENTWe strive to advance our reputation by being, and being seen as, a responsible corporate member of society and a contributor to the growth of Namibian society, now and in the future.

OUR APPROACHBuilding our brand and contributing to the long-term viability and success of the communities we operate in are critical factors in advancing our good reputation. This section of our report covers:

• Our economic contribution

• Brand management

• Our commitment to transformation

• An overview of our CSI initiatives

• Our procurement from local suppliers

• Our environmental impact, including our intentions to advance our direct environmental reporting.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

2017 2016 2015

NFSC compliance (%) 71 81 75CSI spend (N$ million) 4.6 4.7 4CSI spend as percentage of profit

after tax 1 1 1Number of projects financed using

Equator Principles 0 0 0Number of suppliers 435 471 536Total procurement spend 757 424 364Percentage of procurement spent

with local suppliers 82 79 82Percentage of procurement spent

with local BBEE suppliers 22 32 35

HIGHLIGHTS2017

We hosted a networking event to build relationships

between Standard Bank and the Chinese

business community. Our Broad Based Economic Empowerment (BBEE) share

allocation benefitted 1 237

employees.

We launched a training, coaching

and mentoring programme for

small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

We allocated 30% of procurement to BBEE

suppliers, exceeding our initial target by 5%.

NUMBER OF SUPPLIERS

2017

4352016

471

48

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OUR ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTIONWe contribute to the economy through multiple channels. By maintaining a robust business, we can pay dividends to our shareholders, salaries to our employees and tax to the government. As a buyer of goods and services we support local businesses. Our CSI makes a measurable difference to recipients and our communities. This direct economic contribution is reflected in the following table enumerating value added to Namibian communities.

Provided a medium-term

N$700 million loan facility for the 37 MW Hardap solar PV plant.

Indirectly, our products and services support economic development by helping individuals, businesses and governments to advance and improve their circumstances. For example, we make it possible for young people to invest in their future with access to student loans and for the rising middle class to own income-enhancing assets such as cars and technology products. We also enable people to plan and provide for their retirement and we empower families to buy homes. By serving our business and corporate clients, we contribute to industrialisation and job creation throughout the economy, from loans for SMEs to large-scale corporate deals.

2017 DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH Employees

N$723 4562016: N$663 704

Governments

N$239 5112016: N$236 192

Retained wealth

N$545 9252016: N$539 686

2017 N$’000

2016 N$’000

2015 N$’000

Interest, commission and other revenues

3 410 064 3 198 927 2 884 684

Interest paid to depositors (1 217 339) (1 062 800) (878 443)

Other operating expenses (588 156) (607 907) (675 299)

Wealth created 1 604 569 1 528 220 1 330 942

VALUE ADDED BY SBN

Providers of capital

N$240 million2016: (–)

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 49

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In personal and business banking, Standard Bank increased brand warmth and salience through customer centric solutions offered to existing and new to bank customers. Our Customer Centric Strategy enables us to offer our customers convenient and fast service. Through extensive market analysis and customer focus groups we established the need and subsequently rolled out numerous new products and solutions to meet customer financial needs, including the Pioneer Account (student) and Blue Fuel (Fleet Management Solution).

Our continued expansion of our social media presence enables us to reach the next generation of customers and interact with them on relevant platforms.

As regards corporate and investment banking (CIB), we remained stable across all the key brand equity measures while performing better among multinationals on usage and consideration. Standard Bank continues to stand out for our strong presence in the African market and for connecting businesses to opportunities in and beyond the borders of Namibia. CIB enables Standard Bank to position ourselves as a sector and product expert with local and international knowledge.

During the year, we hosted our third Chinese networking event to entrench the relationship between Standard Bank and the Chinese business community even further.

OUR APPROACHAs a global organisation our public relations and sponsorship policies guide our continued interaction with communities, employees and stakeholders. Our approach therefore aligns to global governance while deploying a localised strategy.

As part of our monitoring tools to ensure relevance we use the Africa Brand Tracker to assess and monitor SBN’s price premium, market penetration and customer loyalty. We follow a stringent measure of our reputation via the independent Media Reputation Index. Employee attraction and retention are measured with the Deloitte’s Best Company to Work for Survey. Research results are reported to executive management and used to inform our marketing strategy on an annual basis.

BRAND MANAGEMENT

OUR PERFORMANCE IN 2017

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SBN abides wholeheartedly with the Namibian Financial Services Charter (NFSC), introduced by the Ministry of Finance in November 2008 to set a framework for transformation and establish empowerment guiding principles for the Namibian financial services industry. Its objectives are to bring about tangible benefits for Namibians and to diversify participation in the sector by empowering women, workers, youth, people with disabilities and people living in rural areas. The charter defines BBEE beneficiaries as Namibian citizens by birth or naturalisation before 21 March 1990 who are black African, baster or coloured natural persons.

OUR COMMITMENT TO TRANSFORMATION

NFSC CHARTER GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Achieve real broad-based

transformation of the Namibian financial sector.

1

Promote equal opportunity.

2

Make provision for financial literacy

and consumer education initiatives.

3

Promote Namibianisation,

defined as increasing local ownership and

decision-making capacity in Namibian institutions and local

subsidiaries of primary listings on

the Namibian Stock Exchange.

4

Ensure high standards of

corporate governance.

5

Be sustainable and measurable.

6

Incorporate regional initiatives, specifically those of the Southern African Development

Community (SADC).

7

OUR PERFORMANCE IN 2017 Ownership and control At 31 December 2017, our board of directors consisted of nine directors, five of whom are independent. Four of the directors are Namibians and qualify as BBEE beneficiaries.

The exercisable voting rights of BBEE beneficiary members of SBN’s board stand at 45%, while those of women BBEE beneficiary board members stand at 11% – comparing favourably with the NFSC targets of 25% plus one vote and 8% respectively. The bank is entitled to additional Namibianisation points due to attaining a minimum of 40% across all elements of the charter.

The bank is committed to a 25% BBEE equity shareholding in line with the NFSC recommendation, therefore In December 2010, the board decided to sell 10% of SBN Holdings Limited to employee and community BBEE beneficiaries. We have started the transfer process and completed the arrangements, including the origination of the funding required to transfer this 10% shareholding from Standard Bank Group to Purros Investments Trust, our staff empowerment scheme. Of this 10% shareholding, 8% will be allocated to qualifying bank employees, with the remainder being transferred to a community trust for the development of vulnerable communities. The trust will contribute to the education and health in these communities, as well as for developing small enterprises.

The first allocation to employee beneficiaries was completed in January 2015, benefitting 1 237 staff members. The shares are tradable after 31 December 2019 and vest in three tranches up to this date. Once vested the shares are not forfeitable. Town hall sessions and electronic communication were used to educate beneficiaries on what it means to be a shareholder and the terms associated with their shareholding. The allocation of shares was completed in 2017.

The overall level of compliance against the target set for ownership and control was 71% at 31 December 2017, being the date of the last 2017 NFSC quarterly report to the board.

OUR APPROACHThe bank is a signatory to the NFSC through the Namibian Bankers Association. Although adoption of the charter is voluntarily, we are committed to fully comply with its minimum targets by 2019.

For 2017, we assessed the bank at 71% compliance, which was down from 81% in 2016, primarily due to procuring IT equipment that wasn’t locally available.

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NAMIBIAN FINANCIAL SERVICES CHARTER (NFSC) PERFORMANCE 2017

Bonus/Namibianisation points are obtained when achieving 40% or more in all the subcategories of an element.

The ownership pillar of the NFSC consists of two components, being Ownership and Control. A total of 26 points are allocated under this pillar, of which SBN Holdings Limited currently has 20 points, amounting to 76.9 % against the 2019 targets calculated as follows:

Core components

BBEE elements Weight Indicators

Indicatorweighting Targets SBN Status

% change

2014 2019 %

% against

target Weight

Ownership and Control

Ownership

18

Exercisable voting rights in the Enterprise in the hands of BBEE beneficiaries

2 25% + 1 vote

25% + 1 vote

45% 150% 2 (10%)

Exercisable voting rights in the Enterprise in the hands of Woman BBEE beneficiaries

1 8% 8% 11% 250% 1 (3%)

Economic interest in the Enterprise to which BBEE Beneficiaries are entitled

4 20% 20% 10% 50% 2

Economic interest in the Enterprise to which woman BBEE Beneficiaries are entitled

2 8% 8% 5% 62% 1

Net Equity value 6 20% 20% 10% 50% 3

Namibianisation 3 40% 40% 100% 100% 3

Control

8

Exercisable Voting Rights of BBEE Beneficiaries Board members

4 40% 50% 45% 100% 4 (10%)

Exercisable Voting Rights of Women BBEE Beneficiaries Board members

2 11% 20% 11% 100% 2 (11%)

Namibianisation 2 40% 40% 100% 100% 2

Human Resources Development

Employment Equity

15

BBEE Beneficiaries in Executive Management

5 25% 50% 57.1% 200% 5

Women BBEE Beneficiaries in Executive Management

2 10% 20% 28% 100% 2

BBEE Beneficiaries in Middle and Junior Management

4 30% 60% 72.8% 150% 4

Women BBEE Beneficiaries in Middle and Junior Management

2 10% 20% 38.4% 400.67% 2

Namibianisation 2 40% 40% 2 (2%)

Skills development 10

Investment in Skills Development as a percentage of payroll

8 2% 2% 3% 150% 8

Namibianisation 2 40% 60% 100% 2

Preferential Procurement and Enterprise development

Preferential Procurement

20

BBEE Procurement Spending from all suppliers based on the BBEE procurement levels as a percentage of Total Measured Procurement spending

20 30% 60% 21% 12 +0.6%

Enterprise development 8

Value of all Enterprise Development Contributions as a percentage of profit after tax

8 1% 2% 0.3% 2

Corporate Social Investment

CSI4

Value of all CSI Contributions as a percentage of profit after tax

4 0.25% 0.25% 1% 4

Consumer education

2Value of all Consumer Education as a percentage of profit after tax

2 0.2% 0.2% 0.2% 2

Empowerment Financing

Banking Institutions

15BBEE transaction financing as a percentage of business loans

9 2% 4% % 0

Bonus points

BBEE SME financing as a percentage of business loans

6 2% 2% 8.3% 6

Commitment of 5% of investment portfolios for investments in BBEE companies

5 2% 2% 0% 0

Access and affordability of financial products

Bonus points

Points based on meeting targets set out by the measured entity

5

Total 100 100 100 100 71% 71 0

52

OUR COMMITMENT TO TRANSFORMATION

Our performance in 2017 continued

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Human resource developmentAs at 31 December 2017, Standard Bank Namibia (SBN) employed 329 managerial staff (2016: 296), with nine BBEE individuals in executive management (Exco),representing 64% of the total executive structure. This measures well against the NFSC target of 25%, which means the bank exceeds the NFSC target by about 39%.

Our investment in learning and development for the 2017 financial year totalled N$10.1 million, which is approximately 1% of the staff payroll (NFSC target: 2%).

Category NFSC target 2017 2016 2015

Executive management (%)

BBEE representation (%) 25 64 64 67

Women BBEE representation (%) 10 35 28 40

Junior and middle and senior management (%)

BBEE representation (%) 30 71 74 73

Women BBEE representation (%) 10 28 38 38

The representation of BBEE women beneficiaries in Exco stood at five, which is 35% of all executives. The NFSC requirement

is 10%, meaning the bank is 25% above the target.

The representation of BBEE beneficiaries in

junior, middle and senior management (SBG11 – SBG13) stood at 71%

against the NFSC target of 30%. The

representation of BBEE women in junior, middle

and senior management (SBG11 – SBG13) stood at 27.6% against the NFSC target of 10%.

As at December 2017, we exceeded the NFSC targets for employment equity at all levels of management as measured by the charter. Our BBEE representation is shown in the table below.

We have not only complied, but in most cases far exceeded all NFSC targets, including those for 2019.

We believe that SBN is the most transformed bank in Namibia in terms of management diversity and gender equality. SBN’S Exco is 92% Namibian.

All SBN permanent employees have access to shares in the bank.

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The importance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in any economy cannot be overstated. SMEs play a critical role in national development by creating employment and contributing to GDP. Given the high failure rate of SMEs, we believe that both financial and non-financial business support is necessary to assist these businesses to manage their many challenges. Obstacles include an inability to access finance, poor infrastructure, inaccessible markets, lack of technology and limited exposure to business opportunities.

We are committed to providing accessible and responsible lending products that address the unique requirements of SME customers. At December 2017, our SME loan book amounted to N$189 million (2016: N$77 million), which is 145% of business banking’s total loan book. We offer products for small, micro and start-up businesses earning an annual turnover of N$250 000 to N$2 million (SME tier 2), and for SMEs with an annual turnover of N$2 million to N$5 million (SME tier 1). Qualifying enterprises are either sole proprietors or partnerships registered with the Registrar of Companies under the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

The agricultural sector sustains about 70% of the population and remains a key earner of major foreign currencies for the local economy. Given the devastating four-year drought, we are committed to supporting Namibian agriculture. We offer a range of products and services specifically tailored to the agricultural sector and we continue to find new ways of financing small-scale farmers. These include business, savings and investment accounts, commodities trading, insurance and wealth creation services. The bank also offers full purchase financing that takes into account the strong cyclical trends associated with agriculture, and vehicle and asset financing for clearing grasslands of encroaching vegetation. Our partnership with John Deere assists with financing tractors.

We offer a specialist service to the franchise sector, with a range of solutions from funding customised pricing packages to customised payments and collection solutions. These help our clients purchase their first franchises and grow into multistore owners.

During the year, more than 267 SMEs and local businesses were exposed to the bank’s entrepreneurial expertise at the SME Summit in Gobabis, which coincided with the Omaheke Trade Fair and the Copper Festival in Tsumeb.

As a member of the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI), we have provided funding of N$685 600.00 for 200 SME business toolkits. These business toolkits include information on how to run and grow a business, and provides SMEs with business templates, forms and links to further information. We are now broadening our involvement with NCCI to include Standard Bank-funded SME coaching and mentoring.

For the past several years, we have partnered with the Katutura Youth Enterprise Centre (KAYEC) Trust by funding start-up toolkits to support the trust’s youth development programme. To date, N$260 000 has been provided for more than 75 start-up toolkits delivered to over 300 graduates. The toolkits are trade-specific and allow the development programme participants to start work immediately after their training by providing the required tools of their trade. The trust offers various fields of study including bricklaying, metalwork, welding, carpentry, plumbing and electrical engineering. These entry-level courses offer practical teaching of skills required by specific industries. Business and entrepreneurial skills are integrated into the technical trade courses to help build the confidence required for trainees to start their own businesses.

KAYEC operates training centres in Windhoek and Ondangwa in the Oshana region. Beneficiaries of the trust are mostly youth between the ages of 15 and 25 from disadvantaged backgrounds. KAYEC is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

SOME OF OUR SME INITIATIVES

Preferential procurement and enterprise development

54

OUR COMMITMENT TO TRANSFORMATION

Our performance in 2017 continued

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Enterprise DirectEnterprise Direct, part of our quest to build a digital bank for SMEs and make banking easy for entrepreneurs, is a digital channel to do business with SBN. We contact SME clients directly and they can get in touch from the comfort of their offices, cars or homes. Approximately 9 600 clients have been reached through this channel and SBN has already loaned N$312 563 450 to SMEs.

Financial Literacy Initiative (FLI)The Financial Literacy Initiative (FLI) is a national platform initiated by the Ministry of Finance to enhance financial education for individuals and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Standard Bank has been FLI’s strategic partner since 2013, annually committing 0.2% of our net profit after tax towards financing the initiative. In 2017, the bank donated an impressive N$200 000. As a responsible corporate entity, Standard Bank understands the importance of financial literacy, hence our partnership with FLI to educate all consumers.

Startup GrindSBN has partnered with Startup Grind, which is a global community established to educate, inspire and connect entrepreneurs. Founded in Palo Alto in California, this community is powered by Google for Entrepreneurs and has a network of Startup Grind chapters around the world. Standard Bank sponsored N$38 000 towards a first-of-its-kind event in the country for the Windhoek Startup Grind.

Enterprise developmentThe primary benefit of SMEs in Namibia is job creation and boosting the country’s economy. SBN helps them persevere despite the severe economic challenges at this time. In 2017 we granted lending facilities to the value of N$296 732 500, against an annual budget of N$418 000 000. SBN offers two SME products at an average interest rate of 11.70%:

The enterprise may be sole proprietor or partnership duly registered by the Registrar of Companies under the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

SBN is constantly looking for new ways to provide financing to our farmers, who are the backbone of the economy. We offer bull purchase financing, de-bushing VAF financing and a partnership with John Deer to finance their tractors.

We engage and partner with various vocational and other institutions to build relationships and implement our retention strategy. Customers are invited to discussion forums where experts address topics of concern to SMEs and we demonstrate our SME products.

SME T1 caters for businesses with an annual turnover of

N$3 million up to N$10 million.

SME T2 is for SMEs with an annual turnover of

up to N$3 million.

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 55

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OUR APPROACHThe bank’s long term sustainability depends on making a positive difference in the communities in which we operate. We are commercially and morally bound to serve Namibia and her people. We view CSI as an integral part of how we do business and we encourage and support the involvement of our employees in the communities they serve.

Our CSI strategy is overseen by the board’s corporate social investment subcommittee, which reports directly to the SBN Holdings board. This subcommittee is ultimately accountable for ensuring that our CSI strategy and initiatives enhance our reputation and brand. It is mandated to:

• Approve our CSI strategy, policy, guidelines and focus areas

• Ensure the alignment of the CSI strategy to the bank’s business strategy.

Our CSI policy sets out our CSI principles, governance structures, roles and responsibilities, reporting requirements and the prevention and

OUR CORPORATE SOCIAL INVESTMENT (CSI) INITIATIVES

management of conflicts of interest. It also clearly defines what constitutes CSI spend in SBN and differentiates CSI expenditure from sponsorships. In addition, the policy requires that our CSI projects benefit all regions in Namibia. We have pledged 1% of our net profit after tax to CSI initiatives, which is four times that required by the NFSC. CSI expenditure is signed off by the corporate social investment subcommittee.

The CSI unit engages with core business to understand social issues that stand in the way of realising optimal value. This is used as the basis for identifying programmes that provide opportunities for us to contribute positively to these social and business developmental issues. We aim to form long-term funding partnerships with government, local and nongovernmental organisations that have clearly defined programmes to provide maximum impact in communities. The following criteria are considered when selecting social partners:

We only consider registered charitable organisations. When a request is in line with our policy and objectives, we conduct a site visit and undertake due diligence before recommending the project to the working CSI committee and the corporate social investment subcommittee. If a project is approved, a contract is entered into with the beneficiary organisation and payments are made once project implementation starts. The project is monitored through biannual beneficiary reports, which include a detailed breakdown of how funds have been spent and the impact achieved. All projects are reviewed annually by the bank to ensure that they are achieving the intended objectives. On completion of the project, the close-out process includes an evaluation of the project.

Community upliftment

26%

OUR CSI SPEND

Projects must result in meaningful socioeconomic development and community wellness or upliftment.

1

Funding must be directed at historically disadvantaged communities or incumbents.

2

Projects should align to the Namibian government’s priorities and national development objectives, as far as possible.

3

Programmes should preferably provide a platform for increased staff involvement.

4

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We run two flagship programmes: the USAID Forum for African Women Educationalists in Namibia (FAWENA) and the Buy-a-Brick project. In 2017, Standard Bank contributed N$806 000 to FAWENA (2016: N$988 400), paying for the school fees of girls from disadvantaged backgrounds in Grades 8 to 12. The girls are selected for the programme by specially trained teachers who also monitor each girl’s progress. Our commitment to this programme extends to 2019.

Buy-a-Brick helps to address Namibia’s housing shortage by raising funds for the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia, a non-profit organisation focused on building affordable housing for disadvantaged Namibians. The organisation aims to improve the living conditions of poor people who generally

OUR PERFORMANCE IN 2017Our CSI spend for the year amounted to N$4.6 million (2016: N$4.7 million).

live in shacks, rented rooms or without any shelter at all. The project also has a particular focus on empowering women by providing them with housing. Standard Bank sells token bricks, in the form of erasers, to corporates and members of the public throughout Namibia at a minimal cost of N$5 per brick. The project is scheduled to take place annually from the beginning of October to the end of February the following year. All proceeds raised from the sale of the token bricks are handed over to the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia.

In addition, we commit 0.2% of our net profit after tax annually to the FLI programme, which contributes to the Ministry of Finance’s national policy of educating Namibians on financial matters. In 2017, this funding amounted to N$200 000.

Education

36%

Health

15%

Entrepreneurship development

14%

If you would like to find out more,

our CSI initiatives and focuses are described in detail in the

CSI report for 2017.

http://www.standardbank.com.na/namibia/about-us

The United Nations’ Windhoek head office recently endorsed Buy-a-Brick, with employees buying

690token bricks in a record time of two hours, raising

N$3 450

Environment

9%

SBN Holdings Limited Report to Society 2017 57

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We value ethical and responsible procurement practices and do our best to uphold these values throughout the supply chain.

SBN abides by fair and transparent procurement practices, and our procurement framework encourages local sourcing in all instances. The tender board, attended by senior executives, is tasked with responsible procurement and purchase requisitions. Purchasing is automated and our procurement spend monitored and measured. Our procurement employees are trained in environmental, social and risk issues.

PROCURING FROM LOCAL SUPPLIERS

Our procurement policy and procedures stipulate that all conflicts of interest must be declared by the procurement team and the cross-functional sourcing team, which evaluates tenders, as well as the tender board members. The remainder of the workforce declare only their outside business interests once a year, not necessarily their relationships with suppliers to the bank.

As a financial institution, we have no production facilities. Our top five spending categories apart from staff cost are IT (44%), security (11%), travel (9%), marketing and advertising (10%) and capital expenditure (18%). These categories do not represent a critical threat to our core business.

The terms and conditions of our procurement contracts, as well as service level agreements, set out our anti-corruption requirements. No supplier contract was terminated or not renewed in 2017 due to violations related to fraud.

The standard agreement the bank signs with vendors contains a clause that deals with corruption. Suppliers are made aware of their obligations at the start of our relationship. Should a grievance occur during the procurement process, the standard agreement outlines the dispute resolution procedures to follow.

The bank values preferential BBEE procurement as means of growing the Namibian economy. BEE certification is part of the tender evaluation scorecard used when evaluating and awarding tenders to suppliers.

OUR APPROACH

EXPENDITURE

Travel

10%

Marketing

9%Other

8%

Capital

18%

Security

11%IT

44%

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Our preferential procurement target for 2017 was to spend 30% with BBEE suppliers as required by the NFSC. Our total procurement spend for 2017, including capital expenditure and operational expenses, was N$655 million (2016: N$424 million). Of this, the estimated procurement spend with BBEE vendors was N$141 million (2016: N$135 million), which is 21.57% of our total procurement spend and below the NFSC target. Procurement was secured without compromising quality and reliability of supply, and with no adverse impact on costs for the bank.

Our procurement policy includes the principle of preferential procurement, and states that:

OUR PERFORMANCE IN 2017

Our minimum requirement is for suppliers to meet level 3 compliance with the NFSC. Where deviation occurs, the circumstances must be exceptional. To monitor this, potential suppliers are required to provide a valid Namibian Preferential Procurement Corporation certificate or BBEE ownership status during the tender process. We use internal scorecards to monitor business unit spend with BBEE-compliant suppliers. Our biggest preferential procurement challenge is sourcing BBEE suppliers. In 2016, we increased the weighted average rating on the tender evaluation scorecard to ensure that BBEE vendors remain the preferred bidders. This percentage remains the same in 2017.

Understanding and engaging with our suppliers help us to build lasting positive relationships and make for effective transactions. We welcome feedback from suppliers.

The frequency of communication with individual suppliers varies according to predetermined criteria for service delivery, ranging from weekly to quarterly. We consider areas of concern raised by suppliers in order to improve our communication and ultimately our relationships with them.

Concerns raised by suppliers include timely payment and more transparency in the procurement process. We are investigating ways to improve our vendor payment process; we have streamlined our internal processes and increased our supplier engagements to address their queries and concerns better. If a BBEE supplier is experiencing cash-flow problems, we consider the feasibility of making pre-payments.

Engaging with our suppliers

The minimum 30% of eligible

procurement spend to be procured from BBEE-

compliant enterprises as per the NFSC. By 2019,

this will increase to 60%.

Shorter payment terms to assist these BBEE-

compliant suppliers with cash flow.

Procurement from small BBEE suppliers, including

providing them with support through skills

transfer.

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A cornerstone of our approach is to conduct assessments of environmental and social risks when considering financial transactions. We use two approaches to screen and evaluate transactions: the Equator Principles and a transaction-specific environmental and social risk management process. The social and environmental lending restrictions defined by the German Investment and Development Corporation (DEG) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) performance standards are also considered for certain contractual obligations.

All CIB transactions with an exposure greater than N$10 million are subject to environmental and social risk screening as part of the pre-credit application process. This determines whether to proceed with a transaction or not, or whether further assessment is required. Where a project requires additional environmental or social actions, a legally binding action plan is developed, together with the client. The action plan includes risk mitigation actions, timeframes and resources for remediation, and evidence of completion.

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

A full due diligence process by independent external consultants is undertaken for all category A (high-risk), and where appropriate category B (medium-risk) transactions. All category A and relevant category B projects are monitored to ensure that the social and environmental commitments set as part of the loan agreement are adhered to. If required, independent external professionals are used to monitor the implementation and progress of remedial action on a semi-annual or annual basis for the tenure of the loan.

The diagram alongside illustrates the key steps in the transaction process and where the environmental and social tools are applicable.

In cases where a borrower is not compliant with environmental and social requirements, we will work with them over a period to achieve the necessary standards. Should suitable progress not be made, we consider various recourses, including re-evaluation of the loan. Human rights issues such as discrimination, child labour, forced or compulsory labour and the rights of indigenous people are included in environmental and social appraisals, as are biodiversity considerations. We engage with all our project finance clients

WE ACCEPT THAT OUR COMMUNITIES NEED TO SUSTAIN THEMSELVES WITH FINITE RESOURCES. To be sustainable is to be respectful – of ourselves as an organisation – and of our people, clients, other stakeholders and the environment. We respond strategically in terms of our social and environmental policy and are committed to embedding sustainable thinking into our daily business practices. We do this by connecting with key partners that help us make a broader contribution. Partnerships include working with regulators on environmental legislation and policy development, as well as encouraging our associates, suppliers, landlords and tenants, customers and other stakeholders to adopt good environmental and social practices.

Although financial services have a relatively low environmental impact compared to resource-intensive industries, we are mindful that our lending practices can have significant effects. We lend responsibly by ensuring that environmental and social risks associated with client projects are mitigated. We also make a positive contribution by financing projects such as renewable energy generation.

on environmental and social issues associated with their projects, as well as with clients requiring project-related corporate loans or loans for transactions that are considered high risk. Environmental and social risk training is available for transaction originators.

As a signatory to the Equator Principles, which is a set of international standards for managing social and environmental risk, we ensure that our customers evaluate and actively avoid, manage or mitigate the social and environmental impacts associated with our financed projects. This applies to deal origination and throughout the deal’s lifecycle.

The Equator Principles process is applied to all new project finance loans of USD10 million or more, as well as corporate and bridge loans in which the total aggregate loan amount is at least USD100 million. Our individual commitment must be at least USD50 million and the loan tenure at least two years.

No Equator Principles projects were financed or advised on during 2017.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL RISK ASSESSMENT

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FINANCING CLEAN ENERGYWe have committed to financing renewable power infrastructure projects under the government’s renewable energy feed-in tariff (REFIT) programme. The programme is promoted by the Ministry of Mines and Energy and implemented by NamPower, Namibia’s power utility, and the Electricity Control Board.

Successful bidders for the 25-year concessions will receive licences from the board and sell their power into the NamPower grid. We will be providing a N$1 billion medium-term loan facility for the 30MW Mariental solar plant. This relationship will help us to make other meaningful investments in renewable energy.

KEY STEPS IN THE TRANSACTION PROCESSEnvironmental and

social risk assessment tools

Environmental and social risk

consideration

Environmental and social covenants (as appropriate)

Monitoring of compliance

Credit Monitoring Legal documentation

Pre-credit committee

Know your customer (KYC) at

registration

OUR DIRECT IMPACTThe direct impact of the financial services industry on the environment is low. It arises out of our operational activities that consume natural resources and generate waste. We recognise opportunities to improve our direct environmental performance through establishing a central data management system to monitor our direct impact. This will not only enable us to identify where there are opportunities to reduce our impact but will also establish a baseline for measuring reductions achieved by efficiency programmes. Standard Bank Group invited us to participate in a pilot programme to improve environmental reporting for Africa.

In 2017, we worked to reduce our paper, electricity and water consumption throughout the bank. Not only are these efforts good for the environment, they also make business sense by reducing operational costs.

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Successful energy management depends on the integration of energy-efficient practices into our business. This requires a regular assessment of energy performance and the implementation of procedures and measures to reduce energy waste and increase efficiency.

Energy for business operations comes from three resources: electricity, water and fuel (diesel). The entire bank’s electricity and water are supplied monthly by various utility service providers. Only two bank sites are not equipped with generators. Fuel is used in the bank’s vehicles and standby generators.

The following measures have been identified to improve energy management:

• Electronic tracking and monitoring of fuel for vehicles (with the new Blue Fuel fleet card) and generators in order to curb abuse and contain the cost of fuel consumed by the bank.

• A power usage audit in all the branches and a few ATMs (as a representative sample) to assess power infrastructure and management procedures and come up with recommendations for reducing the operating costs associated with power supply and consumption while ensuring adequate operational time for ATMs and branches.

• Replace fluorescent tubes with low-energy LED tubes or bulbs in all branches.

• Analyse the benefits of solar energy rather than traditional energy for all offsite ATMs.

• Install water tanks in highly affected areas.

ENERGY MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES

Water

Kitchens• Tea attendants to wash cups –

each employee uses too much water to wash their own

• Replace foam cups with recyclable cups or buy porcelain cups for general use to replace paper and foam cups.

ToiletsInstall low-flow toilets and cistern displacement devices.

Basins (kitchen and bathroom)• Replace taps with flow

restriction control taps

• Recycle basin water for toilets.

• Provide recycling bins for paper, aluminium, steel and glass at strategic points on all floors and remove under-desk rubbish bins.

• The procurement department should adopt an environmentally friendly purchase policy that supports environmentally friendly screen suppliers and other product vendors.

• Use renewable energy for lights and air-conditioners.

• Keep sensitising staff regarding the importance of recycling and the environment.

• Institute a reward system by using proceeds from recycled material for the Build-a-Brick initiative.

ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY PRACTICES IN THE WORKPLACES

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OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

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Electricity Paper

Under-counter geysers• Reduce set thermostat

temperature.

Printing• Set printer default to print

double sided

• Purchase printing paper that is recycled

• Use the blank side of used paper for notes – reduce purchasing of post-it stamps

• Reduce printing – share documents online

• Recycle, refill or sell used printer cartridges

• Re-use internal envelopes

• Set copiers so that all staff must use a code to print

• Recycle and re-use packaging material

• Store and re-use boxes.

Air-conditioners• Apply eco-friendly climate

control practices.

Towels• Discontinue paper towels

in toilets; use only hand blowers or dispensers of material towels that can be washed and re-used

• Recycle hand paper towels.Lights• Install motion sensors for areas

not continuously used (parking areas, meeting rooms, toilets, kitchens, storerooms)

• Use natural light, lighter blinds

• Reduce number of lights close to windows

• Use low energy (LED) bulbs

• Paint walls lighter colours that reflect light.

Equipment and appliances• Ensure use of auto shutdown

timer and standby mode

• Arrange regular servicing and cleaning of electrical equipment

• Purchase eco equipment (Energy Star)

• Restrict number of fridges and coffee machines – apply group appliance guidelines

• Use vending machines with power save mode; activate shutdown timer

• Use printers that use less ink

• Replace kettles with vending machines.

For 2017, measurable paper consumption was 18.2 million sheets, although we estimate that our overall total paper consumption was approximately 20 million sheets.

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GOVERNANCE AND ETHICS

OUR APPROACH The group’s governance framework enables the board to balance its role of providing risk oversight and strategic counsel, and ensuring adherence to regulatory requirements and risk tolerance. The board is committed to upholding the fundamental tenets of governance, which include discipline, independence, responsibility, fairness, social responsibility, transparency and accountability of directors to all stakeholders.

The board’s approach to governance is to embrace relevant local and international best practices. The principles of the Corporate Governance Code for Namibia (NamCode) inform the governance framework and practices of the group and its subsidiaries.

Committees that deal with specific sustainability issues: Standard Bank Namibia Holdings board Monitors the implementation of our strategy, taking into account relevant economic, environmental and social issues; as well as international political and economic conditions and the related risk mitigation strategies set by management. This includes performance against the Namibian Financial Sector Charter.

Board audit committee Oversees compliance with all applicable regulatory requirements and the implementation of the Code of Ethics.

Board risk committee Monitors efforts to prevent and combat corruption; health, safety and environmental risks; and compliance with consumer protection laws.

Board human capital (HS) sub-committeeEnsures that our compensation structure is consistent with the bank’s culture, objectives, strategy and control environment; and that it complies with applicable laws, rules, policies and regulations.

Board corporate social investment (CSI) sub-committeeRatifies our CSI strategy and has overall accountability for reputation management related to CSI initiatives.

We understand that sound governance practices are a business imperative, creating and maintaining long-term stakeholder value.

OUR GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK

Board committees

Board audit committee

Board risk committee

Board credit committee

Board human capital (HC) subcommittee

Board corporate social investment (CSI) subcommittee

Board information technology (IT) subcommittee

Management committees

Exco Executive committee

ALCO Asset and liquidity

management committee

ORCC Operational risk management

and credit committee

CRMC Credit risk management

committee

CC Credit committee

IFC Internal financial control

committee

NPC New product approval

committee

TBC Tender board committee

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OUR BOARDStructure and composition Standard Bank has a unitary board structure and the roles of chairman and chief executive are separate, with respective responsibilities clearly defined. The chairman is an independent non-executive director.

The independence of board members is evaluated by the board human capital sub-committee, which classifies independence according to the definitions in the NamCode.

Board membership, both individually and collectively, is regularly reviewed to ensure that the board remains strategically, demographically and operationally appropriate. This also applies to the committees of the board. The retention of board members with considerable experience is sought to ensure that appropriate levels of management oversight are maintained.

When appointing members, factors such as independence, skills, knowledge and experience are considered. Directors are appointed by shareholders at the annual general meeting and interim board appointments are allowed between annual general meetings. The balance of executive, non-executive and independent directors ensures a balance of power on the board, so that no individual or group can dominate board processes or decision making and ensures the appropriate level of challenge.

Board profile 2017 2016

Number of board directors 9 9

Gender composition Women 3 3Men 6 6

Independence Independent non-executive directors 5 5Non-executive directors 2 2Executive directors 2 2

Race composition

Black – Namibian 4 4White – Namibian 3 3Non-Namibian 2 2

Nationality Namibian 7 7Other 2 2

Relationship with stakeholders Regular, pertinent communication with stakeholders is part of the bank’s fundamental responsibility to create shareholder value and improve stakeholder relationships. In addition to the on-going engagement facilitated by the company secretary, the Chairman encourages shareholders to attend the annual general meeting where interaction is welcomed. The Chairman of the board audit committee and the Chairman of the board human capital sub-committee are available at the meeting to respond to questions from shareholders. The bank proposes separate resolutions on each issue put forward to shareholders.

Managing conflicts of interestBoard directors declare their interests annually and at every meeting. They are required to recuse themselves from discussions in which they have or may be perceived to have a conflict of interest.

Skills, knowledge and experienceThe directors bring a balanced mix of attributes to the board, including:

• Domestic and international experience

• Operational experience

• Understanding of macro and microeconomic factors affecting the group

• Financial, legal, entrepreneurial and banking skill

• Expertise in risk management and internal financial control.

New board appointees attend appropriate induction programmes that cover training on their fiduciary duties and responsibilities. Discussions with management across various parts of our business are included as part of the programme to facilitate the understanding of the bank’s operations.

The performance of the board is evaluated annually, assisting the board to improve its effectiveness. Any areas of concern are addressed and action points implemented.

2017 Non executive

independent directors 50% Non-executive directors 12.5% Executive directors 37.5%

Director composition (%)

2017

AR The tenure and details of directorships are set out in the SBN 2017 Annual Report.

AR Cross-board memberships are disclosed in the corporate governance report within our annual report.

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MANAGING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Institute of Bankers Namibia

Financial Institutions Fraud and Security

Committee (a sub-committee of the

Payments Association of Namibia)

Payment Association of

Namibia

Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Namibian Bankers Association

The board acknowledges the importance of being a responsible corporate citizen and as such has a well-developed governance structure for managing sustainable development in the organisation. The board is ultimately accountable for sustainable development and uses an effective governance structure to delegate responsibilities for specific aspects of managing sustainable development on a day-to-day basis. The board monitors the implementation of board plans and strategies against the backdrop of economic, social and environmental issues relevant to the company. Building on the bank’s previous non-financial disclosure in its annual reports, this year the bank has improved its reporting to include more information on the issues that are material to stakeholders and the bank’s long-term sustainability. Standard Bank Namibia published its first comprehensive sustainability report in 2015.

The office of the Group Company Secretary is responsible for sustainability matters and reports directly to the chief executive officer. This office is tasked with embedding a consistent approach to environmental and social risk management within the bank, which it fulfils by:

• Facilitating policy and performance standards

• Monitoring and evaluating Standard Bank’s sustainability performance

• Supporting business areas throughout the bank

• Raising awareness of sustainability matters through relevant stakeholder engagement.

Our memberships further assist us to learn from and contribute to dialogues around social, environmental and economic sustainability.

WE ARE MEMBERS OF:

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GOVERNANCE AND ETHICS

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Embedding an ethical culture Board of directorsOur board is tasked with providing effective leadership based on an ethical foundation.

Formal custodiansOur chief executive and ethics officer are the formal custodians of the code of ethics and responsible for its implementation.

Employee trainingAll our employees must complete our ethics training through an e-learning programme.

Our code of ethics promotes awareness of, and sensitivity to, ethical issues and assists in the easy identification of ethical infringements.

Our code of ethics is designed to empower our employees to make effective decisions aligned with Standard Bank Namibia’s values. The code applies to all levels of the business and ensures that we adhere to the highest standards of responsible business practice. It defines our values in greater detail and serves as a reference for values-based decision-making to guide employees and mitigate against inappropriate conduct that harms our clients, markets or our business. The code of ethics is aligned with our policies and procedures and supports relevant industry regulations and laws.

The board audit committee oversees the implementation of the code of ethics and ethics reports are presented to the committee on a quarterly basis.

Our employees are required to read, understand and become familiar with the code of ethics. The code and our values are included as part of our orientation programme for new employees and regular communication on ethics is delivered to our people to maintain awareness. Our values also form part of our performance management process, where our people hold themselves and each other accountable for appropriate behaviour in their day-to-day responsibilities.

Our code of ethics addresses the following topics• Promoting honesty

• Treating customers fairly

• Working together

• Providing secure banking facilities

• Evaluating performance objectively

• Creating sustainable value for shareholders

• Adhering to good corporate governance

• Engaging in political activities responsibly

• Protecting intellectual property

• Avoiding anti-competitive behaviour

• Respecting human dignity

• Protecting our physical assets

• Addressing conflicts of interests

• Combating unethical and criminal activities

• Prohibiting the giving and receiving of bribes

• Prohibiting facilitation payments

• Ensuring the responsible giving and receiving gifts

• Rewarding innovation.

Reporting unethical behaviourWe understand that effective and anonymous reporting mechanisms are critical to combat fraud. Ethics incidents are reported through the ethics and fraud hotline, human resources, risk

Standard Bank Namibia website: www.standardbank.com.na/namibia/about-us/

company-overview/Code-of-Ethics

The contact details for our ethics and fraud

hotline are as follows:

Hotline:

0800 001 124Hotmail:

[email protected]

and financial crime control departments, and the ethics officer. Incidents reported through these mechanisms mostly related to fraud, harassment, ethical dilemmas in procurement and abuse of authority. All allegations reported are investigated and we ensure that an appropriate resolution is reached in each case.

The ethics and fraud hotline enable confidential and anonymous reporting of unethical behaviour, including alleged bribery and corruption. Even if the service provider becomes aware of the caller’s identity, it is not permitted to divulge the identity of the caller to Standard Bank.

The hotline is operated by KPMG Services Proprietary Limited and is available 24 hours a day and seven days a week, all year round.

To further protect whistle blowers, our policy prohibits any form of retaliation threatened or taken against a whistle blower because they have made an honest disclosure in accordance with the policy. Retaliation in any form is, therefore, treated as gross misconduct and dealt with accordingly.

Our ethics and fraud hotline is available to employees and external parties and the hotline’s details are regularly communicated to our people through email and training interventions on topics such as ethics and financial crime.

New employees are informed of the whistle blowing hotline during orientation. External stakeholders can access information about our ethics and fraud whistle blowing reporting hotline on www.standardbank.com.na.

EMBEDDING ETHICS IN OUR BUSINESS

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NOTES

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DisclaimerThis document contains certain statements that are ’forward-looking’ with respect to certain of the group’s plans, goals and expectations relating to its future performance, results, strategies and objectives. Words such as “may”, “could”, “will”, “expect”, “intend”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “aim”, “outlook”, “believe”, “plan”, “seek”, “predict” or similar expressions typically identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not statements of fact or guarantees of future performance, results, strategies and objectives, and by their nature, involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances which are difficult to predict and are beyond the group’s control, including but not limited to, domestic and global economic business conditions, market-related risks such as fluctuations in interest rates and exchange rates, the policies and actions of regulatory authorities (including changes related to capital and solvency requirements), the impact of competition, inflation, deflation, the timing impact and other uncertainties of future acquisitions or combinations within relevant industries, as well as the impact of changes in domestic and global legislation and regulations in the jurisdictions in which the group and its affiliates operate. The group’s actual future performance, results, strategies and objectives may differ materially from the plans, goals and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. The group makes no representations or warranty, express or implied, that these forward-looking statements will be achieved and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. The group undertakes no obligation to update the historical information or forward-looking statements in this document and does not assume responsibility for any loss or damage arising as a result of the reliance by any party thereon.

HEAD: LEGAL AND GOVERNANCEAdv S Tjijorokisa Tel: +264 61 294 2036

HEAD OFFICE SWITCHBOARD+26 461 294 2000

www.standardbank.com.na

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60

CONTACT DETAILS

REGISTERED ADDRESS3rd Floor Standard Bank Centre Corner of Werner List Street and Post Street Mall

PO Box 3327, Windhoek, Namibia

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standardbank.com.na