Sustainability at Delen

Our sustainability policy aims at creating a positive impact on all our relationships - clients, employees and society at large. We steer our policy on the basis of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Where do we realize the biggest leverage? And what results have we achieved so far?

Read the sustainability report

OUR REALISATIONS

Sustainable banking in 2020

Delen Private Bank continued to work on its commitment to sustainable entrepreneurship this year. Despite the corona crisis, important steps were taken in the field of sustainability.

OUR CLIENTS

Responsible investing

Policy applied to all house funds

Our approach received a maximum A+ score for strategy and policy from the UN PRI in 2019 and 2020

Sustainable investing contributed to strong performance of the house funds

Protecting assets

Client assets showed positive returns in a turbulent year

Refined investment profiles fit the client risk profiles even better than before

Continued client support to be transparant about origin of wealth, to ensure carefree investing

OUR WORLD AROUND US

Reducing our ecological impact

Lower average environmental impact of the funds compared with the reference index

Ambition to switch to green electricity by the end of 2021

Continued effort to convince clients of the advantage of digital instead of paper channels

Support for social projects

Continued support for permanent partners in sport and culture

Extra support for medical needs

OUR AGILE ORGANISATION

Roll-out of telework from day one in high-security Delen systems

Expansion of new Learning and Development platform for employees

Digital communication overcame physical distance with client

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Our four Sustainable Development Goals

What are Sustainable Development Goals?

The United Nations identified seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) worldwide to be achieved by 2030. They will be translated into 169 action points to protect the planet and improve prosperity. Governments and companies that subscribe to the SDGs translate these objectives into action plans.

The SDGs give us the pair of glasses that allow us to take a critical look at our work.

Eric Lechien - member of the board responsible for sustainability

Delen’s impact on four SDGs

Obviously, all seventeen objectives are important to us. But on four SDGs in particular, we can really make a substantial impact:

decent work and economic growth
peace, justice and strong institutions
responsible consumption and production
climate action

Delen Private Bank has a direct influence on the first two SDGs through its organisation. Think of our client-focused personal approach, our staff policy focused on cooperation and efficiency, our efforts in the field of energy-saving renovations, our strict anti-money laundering procedures. But it's on the last two SDGs that we can make the biggest difference. Here is why.

Sustainable investing for your entire portfolio, for every single client

Our core task is to protect your assets and to grow them in a balanced way. Through a cautious and vigilant investment philosophy, we - the bank and its fund manager Cadelam - do everything in our power to accomplish this mission.

On top of that, we bring sustainability into that investment process: our Responsible Asset Management. This is done in three steps:

We enter into dialogue with companies on the road to sustainable entrepreneurship
We integrate non-financial parameters into the decision-making process
We exclude non-sustainable companies

Unlike other players, we apply this sustainability process to the totality of each portfolio, for all clients. It involves a total of more than 29,5 billion euros being invested in a sustainable manner. That is a considerable lever for pushing sustainability forwards.

INTERVIEW

Coronavirus strengthens the case for sustainability

Over the past year, we have further strengthened our three pillars of sustainable investment - exclusion, dialogue and inclusion. We exchanged an external exclusion list with our own principles, and our own stricter criteria. We participated in more than 200 shareholders' meetings of portfolio companies, and voted on more than 3,000 agenda items. In terms of integrating non-financial parameters, we reduced ESG risks even further. The UN PRI rewarded us once again with the highest A+ score for 'Strategy and Policy'.

- Jean-Louis de Hasque (Investment Office)

Our sustainable investment process creates value for the client. When you invest in a sustainable company, you are dealing with a management that thinks strategically, develops a long-term vision and spends time on the challenges that will profoundly affect their business tomorrow. This includes social ESG themes, such as climate care, diversity, justice, welfare, and so on. This makes such companies attractive, and not only to investors. Sustainable players can count on loyal and satisfied clients, and they attract top talent more easily. These, in turn, ensure better turnover and better profit figures, and thus make for happy investors. This is how a positive dynamic gets going.

- René Havaux (CEO)

Corona meant that we had to partly reinvent ourselves. That went hand in hand with a learning process. How do you organise homework, digital events, crisis communication, and so on? But I wouldn't call it a complete turnaround. We stayed true to who we are. Because we were well prepared, for example in terms of digitalisation, ESG and risk management. In times of crisis, we sometimes have to take quick decisions. Fortunately, we could then count on the cohesion within the company.

- Eric Lechien - member of the board responsible for sustainability

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR

Sustainability in facts & figures

billion euro

Total amount to which the responsible investment policy is applied

71%

The percentage of companies with which we have a committed dialogue

+43

Net Promotor Score (2019)

41,8%

cost-income

+26

average annual net staff increase over the last 5 years

40,6

million euro

corporate and banking taxes

19,7 / 100

low risk

high risk

ESG risk score

More information about our sustainability policy?

In the sustainability report you find all details about the achievements, sustainable development goals and sustainability strategy of Delen Private Bank.

Read the sustainability report