8 June 2010 | Nick Martindale
HSBC is to put more pressure on suppliers to improve their sustainability and environmental performance.
In its Sustainability Report 2009, the global bank said it would continue to engage with new and existing vendors on sustainability performance and bring more consistency to its own standards and systems.
“Our overall aim with suppliers is to use our influence to raise the bar of sustainability performance and to ensure that HSBC is not exposed to reputational risks,” the report said.
HSBC updated its supplier code of conduct in 2009 to include a greater emphasis on social, environmental and economic aspects of sustainability, and introduced a more rigorous sustainability questionnaire into its supplier relationship management process.
One hundred existing suppliers in the US and UK have already been assessed and the questionnaire will be used across continental Europe and the Middle East in 2010 and in other areas in 2011.
The bank also developed a vendor management programme in North America to manage the risks associated with its supply base. It plans to implement this programme in other countries this year.
