2012 Registration document and annual financial report - BNP Paribas

7ARESPONSIBLE BANK: INFORMATION ON BNP PARIBAS’ ECONOMIC,SOCIAL, CIVIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY“Civic” responsibility: helping to combat social exclusion and promoting education and culture7In addition, initiatives are proliferating in the Group’s subsidiaries,business lines and countries, encouraged by communication campaignsor by the creation of tools for matching assignment supply with employeedemand. Several countries (e.g. the UK and Luxembourg) also went astep further in 2012, by setting up partial remuneration systems for thetime spent on such activities, so that their employees can also take partduring working hours.■ Several platforms were set up in 2012 to facilitate the establishmentof relations between volunteer candidates and charities in the UK andLuxembourg under the name “Click’ONG”. These sites can be used toidentify skills, to locate volunteer candidates in the short term and tocentralise the assignments or needs of the charities or NGOs.■ In the UK, BNP Paribas Securities Services has partnered numerouscharities working for the environment, the homeless, underprivilegedchildren and social housing. 143 volunteers have participated,providing the equivalent of six months’ work.■ In Luxembourg, 56 volunteers have become involved with charitiesand NGOs as part of the Bank’s programme of lending out its skills.■ In Portugal, BNP Paribas Securities Services has launched the“Together CSR” programme which includes awareness-raisingactivities and the formation of an internal pool of volunteers readyto help charities in the areas of health, wellbeing, the environmentand education.■ In the US, 1,500 Bank of the West employees devoted 33,000 hoursto charity work. They gave lessons in financial awareness, built orrepaired houses, helped under-qualified unemployed workers to reenterthe job market, supported micro-entrepreneurs and collectedfunds for health-focused programmes.Employee engagement in humanitarianemergencies2012 was also characterised by the joint commitment of Group employeesto humanitarian aid, including:■ urgent mobilisation in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, which sweptthrough New York City in the autumn of 2012;■ for the longer term, the creation of an innovative Rescue and RecoverFund.One million dollars for SandyThe destruction wrought by Hurricane Sandy on the eastern seaboardof the United States in the autumn of 2012 triggered a solidarityresponse within the Group. A donation programme was quickly set up,with USD 1 million made available, part of which was used to matchemployee donations.“ Rescue & Recover endowment fund”For several years, BNP Paribas employees have been mobilising to helpvictims of humanitarian disasters, from the tsunami in Japan to theearthquakes in Haiti and Italy.BNP Paribas therefore decided at the end of 2012 to launch the stateapproved“Rescue & Recover” endowment fund to pool the generosityof employees wishing to express their solidarity with victims ofhumanitarian emergencies, whether this involves providing a rapidresponse to a catastrophe or giving long-term support to NGOs dealingwith “forgotten” crises.Unique mechanismPermanently open to all BNP Paribas employees around the world, thestate-approved fund, which is chaired by Baudouin Prot, Chairman ofBNP Paribas’ Board of Directors, is a pioneering solidarity tool.Each employee donation is matched by BNP Paribas and paid to the threeNGOs partnered by the fund: CARE, the French Red Cross and DoctorsWithout Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières).Two experienced figures in the emergency relief worldLaunched in late 2012, the fund includes on its board two qualified peoplewho contribute their expertise on subjects relating to emergency aid andshed light on the relevance of the projects to be financed.■ A graduate of ENA, Harvard and HEC, Sylvie Lemmet is a specialistin setting up sustainable development projects and a member ofthe Court of Auditors. She was formerly Finance Director at DoctorsWithout Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières).■ A Professor in Emergency and Humanitarian Medicine, Marc Sabbeis also a physicist at University Hospitals Leuven. In the 1990s, hefounded the European Society for Emergency Medicine and remainsits honorary secretary.Promising launch without media exposureIn a few weeks, the fund has been able to collect donations fromemployees in 17 of the countries where BNP Paribas operates. Theaverage donation, at more than EUR 90, reflects employees’ commitmentto the projects proposed in the area of maternal and paediatric health:■ prevention and treatment of the main childhood diseases in Mali byDoctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières);■ action by CARE to tackle malnutrition in Niger;■ work by the Red Cross to facilitate access to healthcare in the CentralAfrican Republic.4122012 Registration document and annual financial report - BNP PARIBAS