US Bancorp has won the honours of ‘Best CSR
Initiative’ in the 2012 Retail Banker International Awards.
Charles Davis speaks to Jody Bhagat, senior vice
president, internet and mobile channel group and Lisa Glover,
executive vice president of community affairs at US Bancorp, about
what makes the lender worthy of the award
Go deeper with GlobalData
US Bancorp’s commitment to corporate social
responsibility so permeates the institution that it even finds its
way to product development conversations.
When the bank’s online team was thinking about
ways to familiarise customers with its online bill payment product,
the bank’s work with community organisations leapt to mind, said
Jody Bhagat, senior vice president, internet and mobile channel
group.
“The programme was conceived by a team whose
goal was to educate our customers around some of the valuable tools
we provide while also contributing to the community,” Bhagat said.
“We incorporated social responsibility as a part of the customer
experience.”
The programme – Bill Pay Giving – offers
customers the opportunity to test drive the bank’s bill payment
engine by making a $1 donation to one of four charitable
organizations the bank partners with, and then, if the customers
make three other payments to anybody using the system later, then
US Bank gives them $20.
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By GlobalDataLaunched about 14 months ago, some 137,000
customers have used Bill Pay Giving to donate more than $160,000
thus far, along with additional matching by the bank, to the Red
Cross, United Way, Junior Achievement and the Nature Conservancy –
all organizations that play a prominent role in the bank’s CSR
efforts. It’s emblematic in many ways of just how deeply CSR is
woven into the bank, and a great way to get consumers to try the
bill payment.
Bankers work side by side with customers at
branches to try out Bill Pay Giving, Bhagat said.
“Our bankers have found that this is a great
way to have customers experience the solution for themselves, while
promoting a good cause,” he said.
“The beauty of this is that customers are
using the solution longer-term. That same-day engagement with the
solution makes them much more likely to stick with it.”
And this is just a small piece of the bank’s
overall CSR efforts, which also include employee leadership and
volunteerism, financial support of its non-profit partners,
investments in and loans for community projects and a comprehensive
financial education program.
Lisa Glover, executive vice president of
community affairs at US Bancorp, heads up the bank’s CSR efforts
and said that much of its success can be attributed to a decision
made four years ago to create the Office of Corporate Citizenship,
whose sole purpose is to open the lines of communication, gather
all of the bank’s CSR assets and look for ways to leverage that
across the institution.
The second major step was the formation of the
Corporate Citizenship Council, with the heads of all the
departments that have a piece of CSR and its internal and external
communication efforts.
“The council meets on a monthly basis and the
first 20 minutes is all storytelling, sharing what we are all
doing,” Glover said. “The formation of this very high-level group
allows us to see opportunities emerging across the bank.”
In 2011 US Bancorp donated $46m to strengthen
its communities. These grants, contributions and non-profit
sponsorships supported arts and culture, education, economic
development and local United Way campaigns across the bank’s
footprint. In 2011, US Bank was the recipient of the United Way’s
“Spirit of America” award, given to one corporation each year in
recognition of outstanding commitment to the community.
The bank’s ties with the United Way animate
its corporate giving strategy. In 2011, more than 62,000 employees
worked together on more than 200 local campaigns in which employees
pledged $7.2m in support of their communities. Combined with
special event donations of more than $830,000 and Foundation
contributions of $4m, the bank saw a 15% increase in giving.
US Bank also has earned accolades for its
efforts at sustainability and green architecture, another platform
of its CSR strategy. The bank climbed 88 points to 57th in
Newsweek’s ranking of the 500 largest American companies based on
sustainable management policies, programs and environmental
reporting practices, and was one of only three banks in the top
100.
From 2009 to 2010, it reduced its relative
electricity consumption by four percent bank-wide, fueled in part
by upgrading more than 87,000 computer hardware devices to more
energy-efficient equipment. Last year the bank implemented a
corporate-wide power management system for monitor sleep settings
(more than 69,000 devices) and anticipates saving over 8,500,000
KWH annually.
“The environmental responsibility/stewardship
piece really has benefited from the fact that we were able to start
from scratch and really drive that down into the branches. It
started with a single question really, ‘What are we doing on the
environmental issue?’ from our CEO, and it has grown into a major
part of our CSR efforts,” Glover said.
US Bank also has been making a name for itself
in renewable energy development. It has used its expertise in tax
credit investing, project underwriting and structured asset
management to build a strong portfolio of renewable energy projects
with the nation’s leading renewable energy developers.
As of year-end 2011, US Bank had committed
more than $680m of tax-equity to projects around the country, which
has helped support the financing of more than $1.5bn of renewable
energy installations.
Key to US Bank’s environment efforts is
allowing employees and local markets to dictate the bank’s
approach. Green efforts might be the most important single CSR
initiative in Portland, Oregon, while in other markets it might be
housing or homelessness or education.
By listing to the local employee base and
driving decision-making down to the branch level, Glover said the
bank stays closer to the ground.
Another US Bank CSR effort revolves around
affordable housing. The bank works with developers, non-profit
housing organizations, government housing agencies and municipality
housing agencies with experience in affordable housing development
on dozens of projects across the country.
Glover said the goal of the bank’s CSR program
is deepen community relationships by tackling issues of need.
“We get it the most right in community
development and investment, because we have been doing it for a
long time,” she said. “The overall program now has the visibility
and momentum within the institution that we need to do even
more.”
