Foundation Topics

Our culture is rooted in our Purpose ‘Helping you thrive’ and brought to life by our four values of ‘Customer First’, ‘Better Together’, ‘Take Ownership’ and ‘Be Decisive’, co-created with colleagues in 2023.

Our Culture Action Plan 2023/24 reflects planned strategic deliverables that will accelerate culture change and is aligned to our purpose and values.

The delivery of this plan is further driven by culture leader led enabler groups to tackle challenging impediments and promote shared accountability for culture across the Group.

Progress against this plan is measured on an ongoing basis through our Culture Embedding Index and Engagement Index in our Open View colleague surveys. In addition, specific metrics associated with each of our values are included in a Culture Transformation Dashboard which is reported to Board level.

Business ethics represents a critical foundation of our business and trusted relationship with our clients and customers, which needs to be safeguarded at all times.

For this reason, we set out high standards when dealing with others, both within and outside Group and our personal financial dealings in our Code of Conduct.

The code is supported by the Group’s suite of responsible business policies such as our Speak Up policy and our Market Integrity policy. All colleagues complete annual mandatory training and assessment on all of these aspects.

We recognise our role in supporting the local communities where our customers live and work and it is an important part of our sustainable business activity.

Our approach is focussed on providing financial support to local not-for-profits, community groups and social enterprises which are working to address social issues and make a lasting change in their communities.

In 2023 we provided support to a range of local initiatives working to foster inclusion and build capability amongst underserved groups across the island of Ireland through our Begin Together programme.

In 2023, the Community Fund in partnership with Community Foundation for Ireland distributed €500,000 to 20 organisations delivering initiatives spanning financial literacy and wellbeing, mental health, inclusion and diversity.

In addition the Begin Together Arts Fund, delivered in partnership with Business to Arts, provided €100,000 funding to 8 projects focused on engaging vulnerable artists or audiences. A further €300,000 was donated by colleagues to local causes and not-for profit organisations from the Fund for Colleagues.

Our 2023 community activity brings our total community investment to €7.1 million since 2020.We also recognise that sometimes there is a need for direct support. That’s why in 2023 we provided a further €1 million funding to support those most impacted by the cost-of living crisis through a dedicated fund. This was fast tracked to organisations working directly with impacted groups.

Protecting the integrity of the financial system from financial crime risks including money laundering, terrorist financing, bribery and corruption is of paramount importance to the Group.

We are committed to playing our part in safeguarding the financial systems and our customers from the impact of financial crime. The Group’s Financial Crime Framework, including our policies and procedures support this objective.

All colleagues complete mandatory training and assessment annually so that the Group’s policies and procedures are embedded in operational activities.

It is important that supply partners who deliver goods and services for the Group, share our values and ambition to create a sustainable future.

For this reason, we continue to review and update our Code of Supplier Responsibility that applies to all of our suppliers.

This sets out the responsible business practices we expect of our suppliers. This Code is supported by our Group Procurement and Group Environmental policies.

We aim to ensure the safety of our colleagues and customers at all times by carefully planning our operations, identifying potential hazards and managing the associated risks at every stage.

Implementation of the Group’s Health and Safety policy which is fully supported by the Senior Leadership Team helps with this objective.

Key components of our safety management systems are property specific risk assessments, an extensive auditing programme, as well as a robust health and safety training plan which includes role specific training and two mandatory training courses for all colleagues.

Bank of Ireland’s Safety Management system is fully accredited to ISO 45001 which is the most reputable and recognised standard for health and safety management systems internationally.

The accreditation was achieved following 20 days of rigorous auditing by a certified external audit company. Recertification audits of the system are conducted annually over 4 days, which will provide ongoing confidence that safety is being managed in a compliant and effective manner, in line with the ISO 45001 standard.

Several policies and initiatives including our Code of Supplier Responsibility, Modern Slavery Statement and Vulnerable Customer Unit, guide our approach to ensure that modern slavery and human trafficking does not support our business or our supply chain.

We have put in place Human Trafficking Awareness training and all staff have a legal obligation to report any suspicious activities that may indicate possible human trafficking, including modern slavery and sexual exploitation.

Through the work of our Financial Crime Compliance team, in partnership with global nongovernmental organisation (NGO), ‘Stop the Traffik’ and An Garda Síochána Protective Services Bureau, we are active in helping to identify and disrupt money flows from human trafficking and in improving the accessibility of financial services to victims of human trafficking.

We continue to invest in our cyber capability across people, process and technology.

We apply a ‘security by design’ approach to business and technology-driven change.

We recognise the importance of a strong security culture within the Group, with annual mandatory web-based training for all colleagues coupled with a well-established and growing Cyber Community of Practice.

The ‘Security Zone’ page on the Group website supports customer security awareness, including fraud alerts and information on how to report suspicious online activity, emails or phone calls.

Our customers, clients and colleagues trust us with their data, including giving them the control they need while being fully committed to keeping their information private.

Our Data Privacy Notices explain how we hold and use personal information and outline people’s rights in relation to the collection of personal information and how they can exercise those rights.