ABI attended the plenary meeting of the European Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility. The Forum provides a platform for discussion on CSR among the main stakeholders group at European level - including business, trade unions, investors, non-governmental organisations, academics and national governments. The event took place in Bruxelles at the end of November 2010 and it was hosted by the European Commission. The aim of the meeting is to exchange views about the scope and content of a new European policy initiative in the field of CSR.
Vice-President Tajani, Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, addressed the meeting, together with Lazlo Andor, Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, MEP's Richard Howitt, Klaus-Heiner Lehne and Richard Falbr, and Belgian Minister Paul Magnette.
Participants took stock of developments in the field of CSR over the past two years, and discussed possible ways forward.They also addressed 6 themes in more detail: responsible consumption; responsible investment; the links between CSR and competitiveness; transparency and disclosure of non-financial information; business and human rights; and the global dimension of CSR.
Background documents available here.
ABI's contribution:
Together with the banks, in the two-year period 2009-2010, the Association’s work on corporate responsibility diverged in two different directions:
1. promoting relations with internal structures (at the association level as well as at individual banks) on issues that are “material” to the banking industry in order to effectively integrate CSR into banks, also by developing operating tools
2. strengthening relations with stakeholders, with a view to engaging all the players that help achieve the company’s mission.
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