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| Scope of the report |
ABIL's sustainablity review is presented annually as part of
our annual report and provides an overview of the
company's policies, practices and performance relating to
its economic, social and environmental activities for the
financial year ending 30 September. This year's report builds
on the progress and commitments articulated in our 2006
report, and covers all group operations. Certain aspects
relevant to a sustainability review, such as the corporate
profile, strategy, governance and risk are not duplicated in
this section as they are covered elsewhere in the annual
report.
The report has drawn on guidelines and criteria developed
by the various agencies which monitor corporate
sustainability, but has also been adapted to address issues
specific to our business and industry.
Due to the relatively limited emphasis in this report on
quantitative data, the services of an independent verification
agency have not been used for this report. It has however
been verified by our internal auditors, and their certificate
appears at the back of the report. The information relating
to the Financial Services Charter (FSC) is verified, validated and analysed by Empowerdex, an independent economic
empowerment verification agency, and the group received
an "A" Empowerdex FSC BEE Rating in 2006 for its
initiatives in this regard.
The target audiences for this report are all stakeholders that
have an interest in the activities of the group, with particular
emphasis on our shareholders, clients, employees, funders
and regulators.
While the 2007 sustainablity review has been integrated
within ABIL's annual report, it may be downloaded as a
separate comprehensive report from our website at
www.africanbank.co.za. Previous sustainablity reports,
together with further details on our relevant policies and
programmes, are also available from our website, or may be
provided by contacting:
Nelly Gwacela
Group sustainability officer
Tel: +27 11 256 9256
Fax: +27 11 207 3833
Email: ngwacela@africanbank.co.za |
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| Overview |
This is our sixth sustainability performance review, and in it,
we provide an overview of our sustainability initiatives over
the last year, we report on our consultation with major
stakeholder groups and how their feedback has been
incorporated into our business and we clarify our initiatives
to continue to build a
sustainable group.
ABIL sees its role as that of improving people's lives, by
providing the means to economic upliftment in a responsible
way. Sustainable development for ABIL remains grounded
in certain principles. It is about providing access to credit to
our clients. It is about promoting personal responsibility and
sound practices in all our dealings. It is about providing a
safe and rewarding working environment and promoting
cultural diversity and equity in the workplace. It is about
providing a valued and responsible service to our clients
and providing opportunities for social and economic
development through our core business activities. And it is
about proactively minimising any adverse environmental
impacts. In order to achieve this, we have to be receptive to
the expectations of our various stakeholders, identifying and
responding to their perceptions, concerns
and needs.
During 2007, ABIL has continued to make progress in
integrating sustainability in all our business operations. We
are growing this market by continuously unlocking access
to credit through risk innovation, growing successful
initiatives to market dominance and driving down the cost of
credit. This long-term strategy was rewarded with solid growth and profitability this year. This motivates us to
commit to this vision with even more energy and passion
into the future.
As part of the sustainable development initiative, we have
re-branded the group. The brand is a physical, outward
change, symbolising the proactive changes we have already
undertaken as well as those that we have committed to still
do for our clients. We have also moved away from a model
of multiple businesses with separate branding to a single,
integrated credit bank under one unifying brand. ABIL is
transforming from being product oriented, to a more client
focused organisation.
ABIL believes that transparency and detailed reporting to the
stakeholders is crucial to maintain credibility of the business. In
this regard, we are pleased that ABIL became the 1st runner
up for the Best Sustainability Report in the non-extractive
industries category and was presented with an ACCA South
Africa Sustainability Reporting Award for the third consecutive
year in the ACCA Awards, Johannesburg in 2007.
We trust that the information contained in this report will be
useful to the reader. As part of our ongoing engagement
with stakeholders, we would appreciate feedback on our
sustainability initiatives and reporting in order for us to
improve. For ease of use, we have included a feedback
form at the end of this review.
Leon Kirkinis |
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| Performance indicators |
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2007 |
2006 |
2005 |
2004 |
2003 |
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| Economic performance indicators |
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| Impact on customers |
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| Number of loans (000s) |
|
1 803 |
1 476 |
1 408 |
1 368 |
1 451 |
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| Sales measured in loan amounts disbursed annually (Rm) |
|
7 118 |
5 451 |
4 392 |
4 418 |
3 538 |
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| Impact on suppliers (Rm) |
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| Total paid to suppliers |
|
445 |
382 |
367 |
372 |
439 |
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| Major sources of suppliers: |
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| Computer equipment and software |
|
31 |
28 |
19 |
13 |
58 |
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| Leasehold improvements |
|
31 |
15 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
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| Operating lease premiums: leaseholdfixed property |
|
69 |
62 |
67 |
42 |
57 |
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| Consultants and other professional fees |
|
13 |
11 |
12 |
16 |
16 |
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| Impact on employees |
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| Total payroll and benefits (Rm) |
|
460 |
424 |
384 |
382 |
401 |
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| IFRS 2 – Incentive scheme benefits (Rm) |
|
65 |
119 |
34 |
n/a |
n/a |
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| Commissions to mobile sales force (Rm) |
|
76 |
80 |
113 |
123 |
122 |
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| Minimum wage (R) |
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4 200 |
4 000 |
3 180 |
3 000 |
n/a |
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| Minimum annual bonus (R) |
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6 000 |
5 000 |
4 000 |
n/a |
n/a |
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| Impact on providers of capital (Rm) |
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| Total interest paid to funders |
|
636 |
465 |
492 |
453 |
464 |
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| Total dividends to ordinary shareholders |
|
1 070 |
897 |
1 107 |
788 |
206 |
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| Total dividends to preference shareholders |
|
41 |
36 |
8 |
n/a |
n/a |
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| Reserves |
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2 470 |
2 195 |
2 110 |
2 629 |
2 776 |
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| Impact on public sector (Rm) |
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| Total taxes paid |
|
792 |
699 |
666 |
555 |
399 |
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| SA normal |
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616 |
535 |
476 |
386 |
314 |
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| Value-added tax (VAT) |
|
38 |
46 |
50 |
69 |
52 |
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| Secondary tax on companies (STC) |
|
138 |
118 |
140 |
100 |
33 |
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| Impact on community (Rm) |
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| Social responsibility expenditure |
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6,2 |
5,4 |
5,7 |
5,9 |
6,2 |
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| Environmental performance indicators |
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| Water consumption (Midrand) (kl) |
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36 046 |
26 425 |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
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| Electrical energy consumption (Midrand) (Kwh) |
|
5 063 000 |
5 869 382 |
5 339 975 |
n/a |
n/a |
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| Social performance indicators |
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| Full-time employees |
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3 011 |
2 727 |
2 845 |
2 672 |
2 911 |
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| Commission-based agents |
|
1 706 |
2 142 |
1 953 |
2 644 |
n/a |
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| Net full-time employment creation |
|
284 |
(118) |
173 |
(239) |
n/a |
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| Employee turnover – voluntary (%) |
|
12 |
14 |
13 |
15 |
n/a |
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| Employee turnover – involuntary (%) |
|
4 |
6 |
9 |
13 |
n/a |
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| % unionised employees |
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30 |
33 |
28 |
15 |
25 |
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| Training expenditure (Rm) |
|
13,3 |
12,5 |
7,5 |
8,4 |
n/a |
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| Political grants (R000) |
|
0 |
0 |
118 |
2 000 |
0 |
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