Assessing and prioritising risks to people in the finance sector
Sancroft helped Lloyds Banking Group look deeper into their value chain to identify and mitigate human rights risks.
Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) is a leading UK-based financial services group encompassing well-known brands including Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Scottish Widows.
The Group has made substantial progress in recent years to ensure that they operate as a responsible, sustainable and inclusive Group that respects human rights. They recognised that more needed to be done to deliver on their purpose of Helping Britain Prosper, and to keep pace with changing expectations to respect human rights.
The Group sought a partner with significant expertise in human rights and the financial sector to help them identify and prioritise the most serious human rights risks connected to their business and value chain and to advise on steps to mitigate these risks.
Sancroft began by understanding Lloyds Banking Group’s business context and value chain to uncover where the Group could cause, contribute or be connected to violations of internationally recognised human rights. This covered risks posed to colleagues, clients, customers, and workers and communities connected to the Group’s procurement activities, its retail, lending and investment services. To do this, we worked closely with colleagues in the Human Rights Working Group and from across the Group to build understanding of their human rights responsibilities and risks.
Once we had mapped relevant human rights risks, in phase 2 we conducted additional research to assess the potential severity and likelihood of the identified risks. This was guided by the leading global standard: the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights, and insights from internal and external experts who could provide input on the perspective of affected rightsholders, including NGOs, trade unions and think tanks.
In the final phase of work, we created a matrix and report setting out the salient human rights risks across the different functions. This included recommended practical actions the Group could take to mitigate risks and improve its performance on human rights as well as insights on the evolving regulatory and disclosure environment and the implications for the Groups’ management of human rights risks.
As a result of this work, Lloyds Banking Group has a greater understanding of its human rights obligations and the priority risks across the Group. This will help it focus its resources to tackle the greatest risks posed to people and further align the business with their purpose of Helping Britain Prosper.
The team are equipped with strategic and practical insights to ensure that the business is well positioned to respond to emerging regulatory requirements, improve policies and procedures, strengthen its understanding and management of social issues and overall ESG performance.