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RBC releases 2012 Corporate Responsibility
Report and Public Accountability Statement
TORONTO, March 12, 2013 - RBC has released its 2012 Corporate
Responsibility Report and Public Accountability Statement,
outlining the bank's economic, environmental and social commitments
and their impact.
"A growing number of organizations are looking at ways
to contribute to social and environmental success while driving
financial performance," said Gordon Nixon, president
and chief executive officer, RBC. "At RBC, we work hard
to strike a balance between our business interests and broader
social and environmental interests. We believe that this balance
is critical to our long-term success."
RBC focuses on six priority areas where we have an impact
as a financial services company: corporate integrity, economic
impact, marketplace, workplace, environment and community.
RBC's commitments in each of these priority areas comprise
our overall corporate responsibility strategy. We track and
report our performance against these commitments every year.
RBC performance highlights from 2012 include:
Corporate Integrity:
Financial services companies depend on a foundation of trust
and on effective risk management for their long-term success.
We maintain trust by acting with integrity in everything we
do.
- Promoting transparency: Received the Canadian Institute
of Chartered Accountants' 2012 Award of Excellence in Corporate
Governance Disclosure.
- Managing risk effectively: Updated our Anti-Money
Laundering Framework and related policies to promote integrity
and ensure continued compliance with applicable regulatory
requirements.
Economic impact: Like all businesses, RBC strives
to generate profits, while also having a positive impact on
the economies of the communities and countries in which we
do business.
- Supporting small businesses: Served more than 543,000
small business clients in Canada and the Caribbean.
- Purchasing goods and services responsibly: Purchased
goods and services totaling $5.9 billion from suppliers
of all sizes as part of our Responsible Procurement Policy.
Marketplace: RBC's vision is to "always earn
the right to be our clients' first choice." Our practices
and performance in the marketplace, including products, services
and the expertise of employees are essential to helping us
meet this goal.
- Promoting financial literacy: Added a debt-reduction
planner and debt-consolidation calculator to our online
offerings to help clients, prospective clients and the public
at large.
- Improving access to basic banking: Added 27 branches
and 431 ATMs to the Canadian network, bringing the bank's
national total to 1,239 branches and 4,724 ATMs.
Workplace: At RBC, our employees are our greatest
asset. We depend on the expertise, professionalism and integrity
of our 80,000 person strong workforce worldwide to create
and deliver products and services to meet our clients' needs.
- Building a diverse organization: 36 per cent of executives
are women, as are 47 per cent of middle management and above.
- Setting our employees up for success: Invested $151.2
million in formal training and career development initiatives
to help employees build successful careers.
Environment: Environmental sustainability matters
to our clients, shareholders and employees. We are committed
to reducing our environmental footprint, lending responsibly,
providing green products and services to our clients, and
promoting environmental sustainability.
- Reducing our footprint: Canadian ATM and digital
display networks powered with over 13,900 MWh of renewable
energy, enough electricity to power more than 1150 Canadian
homes for a year.
- Supporting sustainable businesses: $2.1 billion
in renewable energy lending.
Community: We strongly believe in supporting the communities
in which we live and work. This is not only a long-standing
core value of RBC, but also an important component of our
brand, driving our reputation and enhancing client and employee
loyalty.
- Maintaining a strong social fabric in the communities:
More than $95 million given in donations and sponsorships
worldwide to support community activities and organizations.
- Supporting a broad range of causes: 9,000 donations
made to charities worldwide in support of health and wellness,
education, human services, arts and culture, the environment
and civic and sport.
A short summary of the report, the Corporate
Responsibility Review, is available in a carbon-neutral
print version in RBC branches, and the full report
is available as a PDF on rbc.com. RBC has produced an annual
Corporate Responsibility Reports since 1999.
About RBC Community & Sustainability
Royal Bank of Canada (RY on TSX and NYSE) and its subsidiaries
operate under the master brand name RBC. We employ approximately
80,000 full- and part-time employees who serve more than 15
million personal, business, public sector and institutional
clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 49 other countries.
RBC is recognized among the world's financial, social and
environmental leaders and is listed on the 2012 - 2013 Dow
Jones Sustainability World Index, the DJSI North American
Index, the Jantzi Social Index and the FTSE4Good Index. RBC
is one of Canada's Greenest Employers, one of Canada's 50
Most Socially Responsible Corporations and among the Global
100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World.
RBC supports a broad range of community initiatives through
donations, sponsorships and employee volunteer activities.
In 2012, we contributed more than $95 million to causes worldwide,
including donations and community investments of more than
$64 million and $31 million in sponsorships.
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For further information, please contact:
André Roberts,
RBC Communications, 416 974-3678
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