Grupo Popular presented its Sustainability Report corresponding to the management carried out in 2022, prepared following the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) standard and in response to its commitment to the UNEP-FI Principles for Responsible Banking, signed by Banco Popular Dominicano in 2019, together with more than 250 financial entities in the world.
The report details the activities with social, environmental and economic impact implemented by its main subsidiary, Banco Popular Dominicano, and the group of subsidiary companies of the parent company, Grupo Popular, and is in line with the ten principles established by the Global Compact of the United Nations and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
For the sake of transparency, it is the first sustainability report, presented by the entity, which has been verified by the independent professional services firm KPMG, to ensure that the information reported complies with the rigor in traceability and performance before its interest groups.
Within the report, the Sustainability and Responsible Banking Guidelines are established, which seek to establish the reference framework to respond to the main challenges of the region in terms of responsible banking.
The objectives achieved
In its commitment to sustainability, Grupo Popular continues to work to achieve short, medium and long-term goals in environmental, social and corporate governance (ASG) matters, to efficiently address current challenges by adopting innovative measures, high management capacity, responsibility corporate social, more trained employees and quality of products and services.
Manuel E. Jiménez F., executive president of Grupo Popular, explained how these efforts allowed the financial organization to demonstrate its “commitment to society, the environment and the progress of our internal government, promoting the inclusion of people in the financial system and improving the quality of life of the population from the promotion of knowledge, skills and capacities for the management of resources”.
Environment, society and good governance
Regarding the environment, various initiatives were carried out to mitigate the environmental impact. During 2022, volunteers from the institution planted 36,810 trees, which is equivalent to a reduction of 11,779 tons of CO2, advancing the fulfillment of its goal of planting one million trees before 2030. In addition, an installed capacity of 7.5 MW of photovoltaic energy.
Banco Popular continued to strengthen its “Hazte Eco” green finance portfolio, with the “Extraeco Popular” and “Extrahogar Eco Popular” products, both for the acquisition of energy efficiency and sustainable mobility equipment, and for remodeling with ecological materials. It also launched the “HipotEco” product, a loan for the purchase of homes that meet sustainability conditions.
In terms of governance, important advances were implemented, such as effective systems to prevent fraud, bribery, corruption, money laundering, terrorist financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. These measures guarantee the transparency and operational sustainability of all the companies of Grupo Popular, preventing violations that may affect business continuity.
In order to reinforce its social impact, Grupo Popular financially trained more than 10,000 people and registered 4,104 users in the Finance with Purpose Academy. In addition, 151 bank subagents joined the Popular Subagent network, which promotes financial inclusion, closing the year with a total of 1,561 affiliated bank subagents nationwide.
Through Fundación Popular, the corporate foundation responsible for the social agenda of Grupo Popular and its subsidiaries, we continued to respond to environmental and social challenges, such as the expansion of projects to reduce maternal and child mortality, the carrying out of training activities in sustainability , community organizational strengthening and the construction of micro-hydroelectric plants and aqueducts for the self-sustainability of rural communities in the interior of the country.