Corporate Responsibility
Financial Inclusion
Working with others
Community Investment
Our Customers
Financial Inclusion
Financial exclusion is experienced by both developing and developed economies alike. The World Bank estimates that 2.7 billion people, over half the population of the developing world, live on less than US$2 a day. Even in the UK over one million adults are believed to be without a bank account or other basic financial services.
At Excel, we believe this is an issue that financial institutions have a responsibility to address and we view our approach to financial inclusion as a journey needing long term support.
We are committed to tackling exclusion at every stage of this journey: by supporting financial capability projects and the provision of free independent money advice, by improving access to banking accounts and by working with other bodies, such as credit unions and microfinance institutions, which are often better able to reach excluded people.
Working with Others
Financial exclusion is a complex issue which accountants cannot solve alone. To promote a seamless journey into inclusion we need to work in partnership with others who are more experienced and can provide hands-on support. Often based locally, these organisations are trusted within their communities.
Supporting local, national and international organisations, we seek to ensure that these partnerships provide both commercial and social benefits to help achieve scale and sustainability.
The partnerships we are supporting tackle exclusion in two main ways:
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By ensuring that there is a supply of appropriate and affordable services available to those that need them
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By reducing self-exclusion and stimulating demand for appropriate financial products, services and advice.
Community investment
We provide substantial support to charities who invest in the local community. This support includes significant staff involvement through volunteering and fundraising.
We make our greatest contribution to society by being a successful and responsible business – by helping our clients meet their financial goals through providing products and services that contribute to economic growth, and in sustaining healthy financial systems in South Africa.
Our priorities have been informed by broad dialogue with investors, non-governmental organisations, clients and our employees. We focus on the following areas:
Our customers
We are committed to providing excellent products and services in accordance with our established principles for treating customers fairly. Across our other businesses, strong levels of customer and client satisfaction have been sustained. |
