Social responsibility
Social Responsibility
We believe that beyond the objective of developing all our business lines, it is important to bring our contribution to the well-being of the society. Therefore, throughout its over 20 years of activity on the local market, the bank invested mainly in projects that encourage the protection of natural habitats, the development of the Romanian entrepreneurship, facilitating access to financial education tools, as well as other initiatives with impact on the community.
Environmental protection
We aim to create a future where people live in harmony with nature. Therefore, we have a long-term collaboration with Worldwide Fund for Nature Organization (WWF Romania), which dates back to 2010, when we launched WWF Bonus Card, the first eco affinity card in Romania. The bank redirects to the NGO’s local environmental projects 0.3% from the value of the transactions carried out with this credit card, at no cost for the cardholder. Through WWF Bonus Card, the employees and customers have the opportunity to get involved in protecting natural habitats.
Between 2010 and 2020, Garanti BBVA supported many exciting WWF local projects.
One of these projects is the one dedicated to the preservation of the Southwest Carpathians, as the first wild area in Europe. This WWF project, supported by Garanti BBVA, is an ambitious initiative to reintroduce bison in the Tarcu Mountains, in a Natura 2000 site of 59,000 ha.
This program creates unique opportunities to bring back wildlife and for the local community to be developed, aiming to raise the awareness of a small local community about the importance of the natural and cultural heritage that they call home and to create a framework for professional development in ecology.
Garanti BBVA has also contributed to the increase of WWF visibility by promoting its causes and environmental projects on the Bank’s social media pages.
Globally, we are witnessing a clear, constantly increasing interest in adopting a sustainable lifestyle. Therefore, we have initiated a #GoGreen campaign on the Bank’s social media pages, aiming to present to our followers useful tips and tricks for turning towards a more sustainable life, both on the personal and professional sides.
Entrepreneurship
Garanti BBVA has supported projects that enhance the role of women in business leadership. In this regard, since 2014, the Bank has developed a partnership with a not-for-profit organization, namely Professional Women’s Network Romania Association (PWN), which designed an educational entrepreneurial program for women who are in the start-up phase of their businesses. A series of workshops that focused on offering women entrepreneurs useful theoretical and practical tools for building successful businesses took place. The participants to these workshops have accessed information about business legislation, taxation and accounting, personal branding and social media, marketing and sales, negotiations, financing sources, etc.
Financial education
Garanti BBVA focuses also on financial education, facilitating the access to the needed tools for such education to start at an early age. In this regard, starting 2016, the Bank is constantly supporting the Association for the Promotion of Performance in Education (APPE) launching financial education materials dedicated to pupils, as well as teaching guides for teachers. In 2020, due to the pandemic, this financial education program turned digital, with the help of the SchoolMate.ro platform. Thus, through the program implemented at the level of the entire pre-university education (preschool, primary, secondary and high school), students and teachers have access, for free, to: courses support for teachers, by age groups; digitized and interactive materials, by age groups; the possibility of meeting on the learning platform through a webinar integrated in it; educational interactive games etc.
Healthcare
At the beginning of the pandemic we have joined forces with the medical teams, in their efforts to restore health and hope among patients affected by the coronavirus. Thus, we have supported the Bagdasar-Arseni Hospital and the Suceava County Hospital in the fight with COVID-19, through a budget directed to the organization “Save the Children” for the “Emergency Fund for Hospitals” campaign. The sponsorship was used for the purchase of medical materials and equipment needed, as well as for the repair of ventilation and intensive care equipment.
Community support
Since 2019 we have been supporting MagiCAMP Association, NGO that is undertaken various educational – and not only, projects dedicated to the children suffering from cancer.
In 2020 we have supported also the Bucharest Community Foundation in implementing a project aimed to contribute to the improvement of the urban landscape, by redecorating some gangways or walls that are suitable for mural paintings.
We want to contribute to reducing the consumption of plastic and carton bags and to adopt, as far as possible, an alternative to them – canvas bags. Moreover, we want to promote the usage of textile waste as a raw material in the production process. Having this in mind, since 2014 we have been collaborating with the Canvas Workshop, which is a project of the non-profit organization ViitorPlus-the association for sustainable development. It has the status of a protected unit, which means that at least 30% of their employees are people with disabilities. In Romania, unemployment among people with disabilities is almost 90%. That is why it is important to have measures to encourage the maintenance and creation of new jobs for this category.
Based on our collaboration, we have been producing canvas bags for our various corporate communication projects, both internal and external.
In 2020 we have also joined forces with the Association of Legal Advisers in the Banking Financial System, in order to support its activity and projects, focused on the continuous professional training of legal advisers, development of the technical capacity of the Association’s website and of public access communication channels, publication of specialized works, elaboration and support of positions for consolidating and improving the legal access framework to the profession / organization of the legal advisor profession.
Culture
In the context of the impact that the pandemic had on the cultural environment, we have supported the project “Ars Gratia Regalia – Art on the New Stage”. It offered valuable experiences to the community through music, ballet and the promotion of beautiful places in Romania, through a video, with original choreography, on the music of Romanian artists.
