Our Purpose, to deliver caring banking so our customers can make the most of life’s opportunities, brings clarity to why Vanquis Banking Group exists and the important role that we play in the lives of our 1.75 million customers through the provision of responsible and sustainable products and services.
It also underlines our commitment to respond to the needs of our key stakeholders, whether they are our customers, colleagues, communities, and managing and reporting our environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance.
Our sustainability strategy therefore sets out the ambitions, targets and strategic priorities that relate to the issues that are most material to Vanquis Banking Group and its stakeholders, and focuses on creating a business that is sustainable and addresses risks such as those associated with climate change. It centres on the following two areas: operating our business of lending to our customers in a responsible manner; and acting responsibly and sustainably in all our stakeholder relationships.
Our sustainability strategy identifies the following key priorities which we believe are most relevant for Vanquis Banking Group and will drive our long-term Purpose, Values and Strategy.
- Ensuring that every decision we take benefits our customers
- Creating an inclusive and engaging workplace
- Supporting our Purpose in our communities through the Vanquis Banking Group Foundation
- Taking action on climate change
- Ensuring that we treat our suppliers fairly
UN Sustainable Development Goals
This strategy is aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with our efforts focused on the Goals which are relevant to our business and industry, and where our contribution can have the most impact. These are:
No Poverty
End poverty in all its forms, everywhere
Quality Education
Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong opportunities for all
Gender Equality
Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Decent Work and Economic Growth
Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth with full, productive employment and decent work for all
Reduced Inequalities
Reduce inequality within and among countries
Climate Action
Take urgent action to combat climate change and it's impacts
You can read more about the activities and actions we have delivered that contribute to each Goal here.
Stakeholder Engagement
Effective engagement with our stakeholders across all our business activities is key to how Vanquis Banking Group operates and informs our decision making processes, not only in respect of the products and services we offer to our customers, but also in terms of matters regarding the decisions that underpin our community investment choices. It also enables us to respond to stakeholder interest in our sustainability performance and ESG credentials and supports us in meeting regulatory requirements.
To continue to operate our business in a way that accords with our Purpose, we need to provide our customers with opportunities to access products and services that are transparent, responsible and sustainable, and which meet their specific needs. We therefore need to make a conscious effort to relate to our customers and meet their needs.
How we engaged in 2023
We have a diverse customer base across the UK and aim to support their everyday spending, help to build savings and promote healthy borrowing. We engaged with our customers by: providing access to appropriate credit products and services to our 1.75 million customers so that they can live their lives, improve their credit score and increase future financial options; conducting customer segmentation research to better understand and meet the needs of our customers and support them to be more financially resilient; and working with charities and partners in the communities we serve to address issues such as debt advice, financial education and other consumer vulnerability matters.
Our colleagues have a direct stake in our company. They interact directly with our customers and therefore support the delivery of our purpose. They are the stakeholders who will create and deliver the products and services that our current and future customers will consume. They also have a key role to play in supporting the development of a diverse, open and inclusive workplace culture where everyone is a valued member of the Group.
How we engaged in 2023
Our colleagues are vital to the Group’s long-term success. It is essential that we continue to attract and retain the best talent by providing a workplace culture that is encouraging, supportive and inclusive. We engaged with our colleagues by: partnering with Great Place to Work to support our colleague engagement and culture agenda; supporting our Inclusion Community Affinity Groups (which focus on gender, race, disability, LGBTQ+ and social mobility) which helps us to celebrate diversity and inclusion and improve our workplace practices; and launching a new Learning and Development Hub for colleagues which offers more training and development opportunities to colleagues.
The nature of our customer base and the market in which we specialise makes the building and maintaining of open and trusting dialogue with our regulators, the PRA, and FCA, as well as with the FRC and FOS, critical to the sustainability of our business model.
How we engaged in 2023
We are subject to the regulations, rules and approvals of the FCA and PRA. Maintaining proactive, open and constructive dialogue with these bodies and policymakers is key to ensuring that regulations meet the needs of our customers and other stakeholders. We have engaged with our supervisors at the FCA and PRA on an ongoing basis on issues that are material to our business strategy. We have also participated in FCA consultations on its Credit Information Market Study. Finally, we engaged with Government bodies and MPs on a range of issues of importance to the firm including financial inclusion and social mobility.
Investors provide the Group with the capital and expertise it requires to grow. These investors have a right to accurate and timely information such as regular financial statements and other disclosures. They may also have the right to approve or reject major decisions like mergers and acquisitions.
How we engaged in 2023
Our shareholders are both institutional and individual investors. We are committed to providing them with clear and accurate information on our strategy and business performance, and delivering sustainable, profitable growth based on our deep understanding of, and commitment to, our customer base. We engaged with our investors by: corresponding with and meeting with shareholders representing over two-thirds of our issued share capital between our interim results in July 2023 and year end in order to create better shareholder understanding to our investment case; guiding to adjusted PBT for FY23 of £25-£30m in our third quarter trading statement in October 2023 to create greater transparency of expectations, and delivered in line with this range; issuing a market update on 11 March 2024 ahead of our FY23 results to clarify our expectations for 2024 and 2025; and holding a strategy seminar on 27 March 2024 to communicate the findings from our North Star strategic review and describe the benefits we expect to deliver.
Our suppliers play an important role in the ongoing running of our operations. Ensuring that we work with reliable, efficient and trustworthy suppliers allows us to ensure our operations run as smoothly as possible and that we deliver on our strategy.
How we engaged in 2023
The suppliers we use are wide ranging, from our outsourcing partners to IT and software providers. They play a key role in the delivery of our operations and we ensure that they comply with our due diligence process which covers issues such as human rights, climate change and data protection. We engaged with our suppliers by: rolling out new Supplier Management Framework activities and standards which continue to standardise the Group’s procurement processes and procedures; carrying out a ‘voice of the supplier’ survey to gauge the Group’s performance in relation to a range of supplier satisfaction and procurement satisfaction themes; and continuing to engage with suppliers via our due diligence process on the climate risk agenda.
Our local communities are made up of our customers and colleagues (and potential customers and colleagues), and their families. It is therefore important that we are viewed as a good corporate citizen who has healthy links with these communities.
How we engaged in 2023
Our social purpose inspires us to improve the lives of children and young people in the communities where our customers live and work by providing them with access to education, financial and social inclusion, and economic development opportunities. We engaged with our communities by: launching the Vanquis Banking Group Foundation whose vision is to build a future where every child and young person in the UK is supported to achieve their full potential, contributing to a brighter future; continuing to work with partners School-Home Support and the Dixons Academies Trust to support school pupils with items of uniform including blazers, shoes, coats and PE kits; and disbursing over £236,000 in grants to 30 voluntary organisations focusing on inequality, exclusion, disadvantage and mental health issues.
Materiality assessment
We engage with our stakeholders to make sure we manage and report on the ESG issues that matter most to them. We do this by periodically undertaking materiality assessments to identify and prioritise the issues that are relevant to us. This informs our Purpose and sustainability strategy. Our materiality assessments are carried out by the independent sustainability management consultancy SLR Consulting Limited. The following issues continue to be priorities for us:
- Responsible lending practices
- Customer satisfaction and customer care
- Financial wellbeing
- Customer vulnerability
Our Performance
We report our approach to ESG, progress against our priority issues and performance data within our Annual Report and Financial Statements. We also publish performance-related data in our Modern Slavery Statement and Gender Pay Gap Reports on an annual basis.
ESG Highlights
hours volunteered by colleagues during work
hours (2022: 1,104)
invested in the community
(2022: £1.4m)
of complaints referred to FOS upheld in customer’s favour
(2022: 35%)
of our senior management population are
female (2022: 33%)
reduction in our scope 1 and 2 (and associated scope 3) emissions
(2022: 18%)
donated to colleague fundraising efforts
(2022: £10,228)
Being a responsible taxpayer
Taxes allow governments to fund essential public expenditure, enabling them to meet economic and social objectives. Paying tax is a key part of how our business contributes to society
We’re committed to being a fair and responsible taxpayer. We operate in an open, honest and straightforward manner in all tax matters and we’re fair and reasonable in all our dealings with tax authorities.
We seek to make sure that we comply with all tax rules and regulations the places where we operate. We safeguard our reputation as a responsible taxpayer, while recognising that we also have a responsibility to protect shareholder value by managing and controlling our tax liabilities.
Our Tax Strategy
Our Tax Strategy, which was last updated and approved by our Board in December 2023 follows our corporate Purpose. Our tax strategy is aligned with HMRC’s Code of Practice on Taxation for Banks (the Code) which sets out the principles and behaviours expected of banking groups with regard to tax, and we have unconditionally adopted the Code.
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