Bringing our purpose to life with our people and in the community
At IAG, meeting community expectations and maintaining the trust of our customers remains paramount. The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry (the Royal Commission) has highlighted instances where businesses have fallen below these standards.
Business ethics is a key point of public concern and it is understandable that our stakeholders identified trust, customer experience and organisational culture as leading priorities for them.
In this review, we believe it is important to outline how we are continuously aiming to both improve our business and ensure we are doing the right thing by our customers. This includes our approach to addressing ethical expectations and practices (page 16), our organisational culture (page 15) and our efforts to provide purpose-led products and partnerships that address key concerns for our customers and our communities (pages 17 and 18).
IAG has a clear purpose: to make your world a safer place. Our purpose is at the heart of our strategy to achieve world-leading customer experiences, and to operate with simplicity, scalability and agility. To help us execute our strategy and maintain our purpose, we developed a shared value framework that supports the creation of safer, stronger and more confident communities. This framework guides our customer and community facing initiatives, with our efforts delivered through four priority areas that manage material business risks and realise potential opportunities:
1. Using our purpose to create meaning for our people and support our performance
Continuing to strengthen people and culture programs to drive alignment with IAG’s purpose, increase agility and build readiness for the future of work.
2. Acting responsibly to build and maintain trust
Remaining committed to operating transparently and ethically. Ensuring our actions build a foundation of trust by addressing social and environmental issues important to our stakeholders.
3. Embedding our purpose through shared value innovation and supply chain management
Building on this foundation by developing and adapting products, services and business models that deliver commercial, customer and community advantage.
4. Building safe, confident and connected communities
Looking beyond our own business model by collaborating with partners to tackle systemic issues that affect community resilience and our business. By addressing risk exposure, community preparedness, insurance access, and insurance affordability, we aim to achieve our mutual objectives – to make communities safer and more resilient so they can thrive.
Sustainable governance and alignment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
We have strong governance structures that shape how we manage issues key to our business. Our Board has overarching responsibility for shared value and sustainability, with our internal Shared Value Advisory Council providing advice and input on our approach and supporting the Group Executive People, Performance and Reputation in recommendations to the Group Leadership Team. We also have a Customer Advisory Board to keep abreast of our customers’ needs while our Ethics Committee considers ethical perspectives in the way we engage with our customers and partners. Details can be found on our website.
Increasingly, the social and environmental challenges faced by communities, countries and regions affect businesses and influence commercial success. IAG supports the international commitment to the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to advance economic, social and environmental prosperity. We acknowledge the SDGs can only be achieved if business, government and society work together. While our work on safer communities and risk transfer through insurance can support many of the SDGs, we recognise and prioritise those where we can make the biggest difference:
- Decent Work and Economic Growth – recognising insurance is a service that helps communities to thrive and recover from adversity. The need for wide access to insurance is explicitly called out in Target 8.10.
- Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure – ensuring we play our role in supporting investment in resilient infrastructure, innovation and supporting technological progress to finding lasting solutions to both economic and environmental challenges.
- Sustainable Cities and Communities – using our expertise and partnerships to deliver resilient and sustainable communities and infrastructure.
- Climate Action – given IAG’s central role of helping customers transfer the risk stemming from weather-related natural perils.
