Analysis: Westpac Bank's Social, Community & Environmental Aspects

This case study evaluates Westpac Bank's performance regarding social, community, and environmental aspects. It highlights the bank's sustainability policies, effective governance structure reviewed quarterly, and its environmental policy covering pollution, climate change, biodiversity, and r...Read More

1EVALUATION OF PERFORMANCE OF WESTPAC BANK
Evaluation of performance of Westpac Bank
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2EVALUATION OF PERFORMANCE OF WESTPAC BANK
Part 5: Evaluation of performance of the organization Westpac Bank in terms of social,
community, and environmental aspects.
The organization Westpac Bank have a charter of separate sustainability policies which will help
them to attain their goals and objectives and meet the requirements of their respective
stakeholders. In modern business times, it is of great essence for all the firms to contribute
towards social, community, and environmental aspects. This will further have a positive impact
upon their sustainability and also meet the needs and requirements of the stakeholders
(McDonald 2015).
In case of corporate governance, the organization Westpac Bank has an effective governance
structure within their system. This governance structure is reviewed by the organization 4 times
every year by the governance committee. This further helps the stakeholders of the firm to be
up-to-date about the plans and policies of the firm so that they can also contribute towards the
sustainability of the firm in an effective manner (Dumay 2016). The environmental policy of the
organization covers its entire operations throughout the entire world. The given policy includes
pollution, change in climate, biodiversity and scarcity of resources. This can be further
evaluated with the help of the following points:-
Energy resource- The organization Westpac Bank helps in monitoring and reviewing the
sources of energy, emissions related to greenhouse gas, wastage of water.
Investment- The management of Westpac bank invests in technologies which are completely
energy efficient. They also explored various opportunities to use recycled materials. These are
cost effective and it also have a positive impact in their cash flows as well (Westpac.com.au.
2018).

3EVALUATION OF PERFORMANCE OF WESTPAC BANK
Biodiversity-The organization also invests in biodiversity process which further adds to their
sustainability.
Management of impact of environment in supply chain process-The management of Westpac
Bank influence their suppliers towards effective environmental performance. They get their
suppliers aware regarding specify environmental risks in their supply chain process. In addition
to this, there are risk management systems in place in order to manage the different kinds of
environmental risks.
In addition to this, it can be also inferred that the organization follows a 360-degree feedback
approach by listening to the stakeholders of the firm. The main motive of their stakeholder
framework is to identify the issues of the stakeholders and to address their issues in a timely
manner. It is important for the organization to address the issues of the stakeholders. If the issues
are not resolved, then the sustainability of the organization will be at stake (Jain, Keneley and
Thomson 2015)
The organization Westpac Bank has several positive impact on the society. The bank provides
support to the society with the help of several financial literacy program. They also carry out
several programs with local commodities by providing them different forms of benefits. In
addition to this, they also provide effective support to indigenous people and help them to attain
a level of financial literacy. Apart from this, it can be also inferred that these programs help the
organization to attain a higher level of success in comparison with its present competitors. The
vision of the organization is to provide an effective customer experience to its prospective
customers and to build effective relationships with all its respective stakeholders. Their core
objectives is to increase customer satisfaction level by 5 percent in the coming financial year.

4EVALUATION OF PERFORMANCE OF WESTPAC BANK
This can be also done with the help of an effective social, community, and environmental
strategy to meet the needs and requirements of its stakeholders (Westpac.com.au. 2018).
The contribution of Westpac Bank towards the environment is inevitable. It can be inferred that
the organization along with five other banks formed a committee for Natural Disaster Resilience
& Safer Communities. They worked jointly with the Australian Government. This act as a joint
collaboration between all levels of government, business and community organizations. This
create a positive impact upon Australian communities as they became more resilient towards
natural disasters. Apart from this, the organization took a “Banking Environment Initiative”.
This initiative further helped them to reach towards their sustainability goals. The management
of Westpac Bank applies effective risk management framework to manage their environmental,
social and governance risks. With the help of effective risk management process, they take care
about the environment, which also contributes towards the sustainability of the organization
(Westpac.com.au. 2018).
From the above analysis, it can be inferred that the management of the organization Westpac
Bank is highly successful in terms of social, community, and environmental aspects. Good
governance policies and an effective risk management process is the key feature of operational
activities of Westpac bank.

5EVALUATION OF PERFORMANCE OF WESTPAC BANK
References
Dumay, J., 2016. A critical reflection on the future of intellectual capital: from reporting to
disclosure. Journal of Intellectual capital, 17(1), pp.168-184.
Jain, A., Keneley, M. and Thomson, D., 2015. Voluntary CSR disclosure works! Evidence from
Asia-Pacific banks. Social Responsibility Journal, 11(1), pp.2-18.
McDonald, L.M., 2015. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in banking: what we know, what
we don't know, and what we should know.
Westpac.com.au. (2018). Banking Environment Initiative | Westpac. [online] Available at:
https://www.westpac.com.au/about-westpac/sustainability/goverance-and-accountability/our-
commitments-partnerships/banking-environment-initiative/ [Accessed 21 May 2018].