Business, Society and Planet: A Study of Commonwealth Bank and HSBC Bank

This study analyzes the core business activities, social reports, and sustainable development goals of Commonwealth Bank and HSBC Bank. It assesses the quality of their social accounting approach according to Zadek et al.’s (1997) criteria and reflects on the extent to which their social reports reflect their stated values. The study also discusses the differences between the two banks in terms of their social reports and the relevant Sustainable Development Goals.

Running head: BUSINESS, SOCIETY AND PLANET
Business, Society and Planet
Student’s name:
Name of the university:
Author’s note:

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Table of Contents
1. Commonwealth Bank and HSBC Bank; their core business activities and the countries and
industries in which they operate......................................................................................................2
2. Differences are evident between Commonwealth Bank and HSBC Bank in terms of the range
of their social reports and the depth of coverage on specific issues................................................3
3. Sustainable Development Goals relevant to these companies, their industries and the countries
in which they operate.......................................................................................................................4
4. Assess the apparent quality of the social accounting approach utilised by these companies
according to Zadek et al.’s (1997) criteria.......................................................................................5
6. Conclusions and reflecting on groups’ discussions of these companies.....................................9
Bibliography and Reference List...................................................................................................10

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1. Commonwealth Bank and HSBC Bank; their core business activities and the countries
and industries in which they operate
Commonwealth Bank and HSBC Bank both are in the banking sector; however, they
belong to the different countries. Commonwealth Bank has it headquarter in Sydney, whereas,
Commonwealth Bank has it headquarter in London.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia is a multinational bank, established in the year 1911 as
a government bank. Commonwealth Bank has its branches in more than 1150 locations and it
mainly provides a variety of financial products and services to the customers. Commonwealth
Bank provides finance and insurance, corporate banking, consumer banking, global wealth
management, investment management and private equity to the customers. Commonwealth Bank
reached the revenue of AUD 26.05 billion in 2016 and it had more than 51,900 employees in
2017 (Commbank.com.au, 2018). Core business activities of Commonwealth Bank are
associated with accepting deposits from the customers; give loans and providing investment
products to the customers. Core activities of Commonwealth Bank are related to Australia’s
leading provider of financial services, business and institution banking and retail or premium
banking along with funds management, insurance, superannuation and share-broking services
and products.
HSBC Holdings is a public limited company and it is in the industry of banking and
financial services. HSBC was established long back in the year 1865; however, it was registered
as HSBC Bank in 1991 in London. HSBC mainly provides retail banking, investment banking,
corporate banking, private banking, mortgage loan, credit cards and insurance service to the
customers (Hsbc.com, 2018). HSBC had the revenue of US$51.445 billion and numbers of

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employees in 2017 were 228,600. HSBC has more than 3900 branches in 68 countries along with
38 million customers. Core business activities of HSBC are associated with principal business
activities, group and divisions. HSBC does the business in customer-facing activities mainly
dividing the business into four segments; commercial, global, retail and global private banking
(Hsbc.com, 2018). Commercial banking of HSBC operates in 53 countries and commercial
banking is associated with global trade, global liquidity, global banking, cash management and
insurance and investment.
2. Differences are evident between Commonwealth Bank and HSBC Bank in terms of the
range of their social reports and the depth of coverage on specific issues
Commonwealth Bank led to $2.8 billion in renewable energy projects and
Commonwealth Bank also spent $1.02 billion in climate bonds arranged. Commonwealth Bank
provided training to 2,790 employees on responsible leading to investing and procuring. Since
2009, Commonwealth Bank reduced 48.5% of direct emission in Australia and more than
570,000 students got enrolled through financial education programme for the youth
(Commbank.com.au, 2018). Corporate social responsibility has its relation to three aspects,
profit, planet and people. In the case of business, Commonwealth Bank provided a salary of $6.3
billion in 2017 and they spent $4.8 billion as an operational expense. Commonwealth Bank
provided a tax of $3.9 billion in 2017. For the betterment of the society, Commonwealth Bank
has been following the global megatrend of providing better customer experience, diversity and
inclusion, financial stability, disclosure, workforce well-being and responsible leading. In
addition, Commonwealth Bank also provides the security of digital innovation privacy and data
security, macroeconomic and betterment in the case of climate change. Commonwealth Bank
educates the children with a value of money and helps the people to prepare the workforce of the

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future (Buckler, 2017). In case of innovation, Commonwealth bank uses the innovation and
capability to empower the people and the community. Most importantly, Commonwealth Bank
plays important role in limiting the climate change.
HSBC Bank follows mainly two elements corporate social responsibilities, the first one is
promoting education to the community and to the employees and the second one is
environmental sustainability. Corporate social responsibilities of HSBC Bank demonstrate the
social and economic development of communities making safeguarding to the environment
(Parsa et al., 2015). Community investment of HSBC is significant which leads to the education
to the community and sustainability of the community as well. Promoting education is associated
with the employment enriching vocational training, empowering women and cultural and
language understanding. Environmental sustainability is related to the freshwater sustainability,
access to safe water and water and sanitation. 240 of the largest suppliers accepted Ethical and
Environmental Code of Conduct of HSBC and sustainability operation is the main focus of
HSBC, supply chain collaboration, HSBC Eco-efficiency fund, energy, waste, green building,
data centre and paper usage (Hsbc.com, 2018).
3. Sustainable Development Goals relevant to these companies, their industries and the
countries in which they operate
Climate action goal is relevant to Commonwealth Bank as there is no such country which
is not experiencing first-hand drastic effect of climate change and countries are facing the issue
of greenhouse gas emission. Greenhouse gas emission issue is 50 per cent higher than the 1990s.
Global warming is also causing the long-lasting issue to the climate change; therefore, the
countries are facing the problems like a tsunami, flooding, cyclone and storm (Undp.org, 2018).

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Commonwealth Bank is trying to focus on zero emission economy by 2050 and they want to
associate the opportunity and mitigate the risk of climate change. In addition, industry,
innovation and infrastructure goal is another target for Commonwealth Bank as these factors
are crucial drivers to the development and economic growth of the economy and organisation. In
any part of the world, people do not live in cities and the people do not have mass transport;
renewable energy is getting famous (Plambeck & Taylor, 2015). Commonwealth Bank uses the
innovation to empower the human resources, business and communities so that they can improve
the social outcomes along with financial wellbeing.
Quality education goal is relevant to HSBC as the main focus of the social report is
based on education programmes given to the young generation. Many of the regions are trying to
reach the target of universal primary education. Literacy rate has been increased in the last five
years and progress has also been seen in the field of education (Undp.org, 2018). HSBC focuses
on providing education to the disadvantaged young children to empower them. Clean water and
sanitisation is another goal appropriate for HSBC as HSBC in developing countries is trying to
provide environmental sustainability particularly focusing on the accessing to safe water and
sanitation. Water scarcity can affect more than 40% of the people across the world and since
1990; almost 2.1 billion people have gained access to the drinking water (Russell-Smith et al.,
2015). HSBC is trying to improve the condition of supplying of renewable freshwater.

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4. Assess the apparent quality of the social accounting approach utilised by these
companies according to Zadek et al.’s (1997) criteria
Social accounting helps to promote accountability and it facilitates and establishes the
organisation’s objectives (Zadek et al., 1997). There are eight principles of SEAAR (Social and
Ethical Accounting, Auditing and Reporting).
Inclusivity principle in social and ethical accounting reflects the accounts and views of
stakeholders. Inclusivity principle accommodates the diversity of objectives and values (Zadek et
al., 1997). Commonwealth Bank wants to excel at improving and securing the business, people
and community. Diverse stakeholders hold various issues and views which impact the business
decision. Stakeholders' values of accountability, integrity, collaboration, service guide and
excellence help the Commonwealth Bank to get success. On the other side, HSBC Bank
segments the stakeholders as dormant stakeholders, dominant stakeholders, dependent
stakeholders, demanding stakeholders and dangerous stakeholders. Comparability principle
enables the work process and performance of the organisation on the basis of the assessment
prior periods of the external benchmark. Commonwealth Bank has set the external benchmark
through stock performance. Performance of HSBC bank has been done through NPS benchmark
and it follows Six Sigma benchmark (Suliman et al., 2016). Completeness principle is stated that
every aspect of the company’s activities should be systematically and deliberately excluded from
the assessment. Commonwealth Bank publishes the report of corporate social responsibility
assessing every aspect of the business. HSBC Bank also shares all aspects of the social
responsibility and financial information each year. Evolution principle covers up the company's
social responsibilities and footprint; this may vary with time with significance. Commonwealth
Bank shows progress in the range of social initiatives and it is included its long-standing

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investment for the children and youth programme. HSBC Bank supports the responsible global
transition to net zero emissions by 2050 (Hsbc.com, 2018). Management policies and systems
principle are about organisational learning which is required systematic process and policies
covering the area for the accounting itself. Commonwealth Bank has its department to publish
the social accounting policies and the responsibilities. HSBC Bank also publishes the systematic
processes for the social accounting each year. Disclosure is the conflict between external
audiences and internal needs which is determined for the extent and nature of disclosure (Uhrich,
Koenigstorfer & Groeppel-Klein, 2014). Commonwealth Bank always measures the internal
management needs as well as the external agencies so that they can provide the community
support. HSBC bank publishes the social report to disclose the matter to the audiences and the
customers get to know about the new stance of the bank. Externally verified principle depends
mainly on putting stress on SEARR as the management tool and it can also be taken as the
organisational learning. Therefore, Commonwealth Bank takes the account of the externally
verified agency to measure the social impact. On the other side, HSBC strengthens the
accountability on legitimacy in social activities. Continuous improvement aims to assess the
development of social approach rather just a retrospective view on the performance of the
organisation (Roy, Sarkar & Parvez, 2015). Commonwealth Bank has a team of delivering the
best for corporate social responsibility and they state the objectives of the organisation on social
aspects. On the other side, HSBC does not just segregate the performance on a team basis; it also
sets the goals of the organisation.
5. Discuss the extent to which the social reports provided by these companies reflect their
stated values

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Commonwealth Bank of Australia follows the stated values of collaboration, integrity,
accountability and excellence in the field of banking. Commonwealth Bank commits to uphold
the guiding framework of the vision of the organisation. Integrity leads to the trustworthiness of
everyone. In addition, accountability means understanding and delivering the best to the
customers (Cooper, 2017). Collaboration with Commonwealth Bank means to speak and act
respectfully to the customers. Excellence means get the basic at first on profitability and in social
responsibility. Service also means to help community people in need. These values also reflect
on the social report of the organisation Commonwealth Bank where the bank measures and
provides data on the customer experience, diversity inclusion, assistance on climate change,
financial stability, workforce wellbeing, responsible leading, digital innovation and
macroeconomic condition as well as climate change issue. External bodies to measure the social
responsibility of Commonwealth Bank are an external advisory planet, customer advocate
council and indigenous advisory board (Commbank.com.au, 2018). Commonwealth Bank
updates opportunity initiative scoreboard, CDP submission and reconciliation action plan and tax
transparency code.
Values of HSBC Bank starts with acting with courageous integrity. HSBC is a
dependable bank and it is standing firm delivering a commitment to the customers. HSBC is
open to various ideas and cultures that listens and treats to the people (Watson, 2018). In
addition, HSBC is connected to the communities, customers and regulators that build a
connection with external issues. First, HSBC showcased the carbon emission which is getting
reduced with time and HSBC did the charitable donation to different regions. The economic
benefit of HSBC shares to the communities and environment, employees, the government in
taxation, shareholders and suppliers (Hsbc.com, 2018). HSBC also started the programme or

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initiative of the climate change so that the communities can live happily. In the profit section, it
makes different strategies to improve insurance, commercial banking and financing in long-term
sustainable development.
6. Conclusions and reflecting on groups’ discussions of these companies
Commonwealth Bank’s social reports explain continuing progress of the banks across
different ranges of initiatives. Commonwealth Bank invests socially to provide financial help in
education programme for the youth and children. Commonwealth Bank shares the detail of the
investment for the betterment of the people and planet to limiting the climate change issue.
Commonwealth Bank also wants to develop the sense of money management in the early years
of people lives and people can equip with financial skills. Renewable energy is another key side
of the future of the organisation. Commonwealth Bank spent $16 million in education and 6,000
customers got assistance in hardship. Commonwealth Bank commits to improving the condition
by doing something better for the community. On the other side, HSBC Bank has its own set of
social and economic development agenda where the communities can feel safe with the
safeguard of the environment. In case of environment sustainability, HSBC does not do a
charitable donation for society and environment and it does right balance between society and
bank's business. HSBC focuses on the social development, consumer education, staff
volunteering and ethical banking.

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