Innovation

Handelsbanken as a bank is important for society, through both strong local affiliation and by contributing in other ways, which happens through taxes and other fees, give credits, offer payment solutions, hire staff, and by providing investments and other services which are bank related. Through these bank operations, Handelsbanken can contribute to the long term overall goals. Handelsbanken has analyzed the 17 goals carefully to determine which to focus on and how to integrate them into the business, and the results are:

· Gender equality

· Industry innovation and infrastructure

· Sustainable cities and communities

· Climate actions

· Peace, justice and strong institutions

Inspiration

What’s inspiring a leader in Handelsbanken is according to Jens Claesson the authority the people get while working at the firm. The decentralized system means that every person in the company gets more responsibility compared to a centrally run organization. With the responsibility, it also comes more freedom to make decisions on their own without getting approval from others. Jens Claesson is meaning that this makes people feel that their role of the company is very important which motivates them to do their best.

Another thing that is motivating a leader is the fact that they almost always recruit their managers internally. This means that it is always possible to get higher up in the hierarchy if the employees' do a good job which obviously makes people more motivated.

Overall impact

For all the above mentioned goals, Handelsbanken has the opportunity not to only contribute through its own operations, but also through business relations. Children’s rights, good working conditions and equality are certainties in Handelsbankens own business, and they wish to contribute to accelerate the development of the companies and communities that they do business with. Regarding peace, justice and strong institutions includes the goal of reducing all forms of bribery and corruption, an area which banks play a key role.

Handelsbanken’s gender equality goal is to be a bank in which women and men have the same opportunities in every country where they operate. In each country Handelsbanken has a gender equality plan which supports the Group’s gender goals. The aim is to create an even gender distribution within different working groups, professions and units.

Business benefit

The benefits of Reaching the UN Sustainable Development goals will create reliable image for Handelsbanken as well as increase the overall shareholder value making its a more profitable company.

Being included in The Sustainability Yearbook, the nomination is an important confirmation that Handelsbanken meets the requirements for a sustainable and ethical business. By having a transparent and elaborate business strategic with focus on the core principles of ethics and sustainability throughout the organisation, is the bank decreasing its risk of a financial scandal which would be devastating for the organisation.

The past five years, Handelsbanken has generated a shareholder value of SEK 121 billion, the bank left SEK 50 billion in dividends and the market capitalization increased by SEK 71 million.

Social and environmental benefit

For Handelsbanken, taxes are an important issue in sustainability and they have an open dialogue with tax authorities in those countries they operate in. They contribute to society in the countries through, for example, by paying taxes and fees, and hiring staff from that country. The bank has for many years been one of the largest payers of corporate tax in Sweden, and they also pay significant amounts social security contributions.

Interview

Jens Claesson, Office Manager