Social responsibility

Our initiatives focus on areas where we can contribute to substantial positive change. The Bank’s social responsibility includes increasing the availability of products and services, openness to Customers' needs and initiatives which benefit local communities. The aforementioned activities are carried out as part of the Bank’s CSR and Sustainability Strategy.

Commitments of BNP Paribas Bank Polska S.A. under social responsibility – one of the four pillars of the CSR and Sustainability Strategy

• Wider access to products and services.
• Counteracting social exclusion and supporting human rights.
• Philanthropy focused on the arts, social solidarity and the natural environment.

The Bank’s social involvement projects are implemented by the CSR and Sustainability Bureau in cooperation with the BNP Paribas Foundation.

The BNP Paribas Foundation focuses on three key areas:

Activities in the field of education – levelling educational opportunities in groups threatened by social exclusion, e.g. through long-term scholarship programmes, e.g. scholarship programme „Class”.

Social solidarity activities – support for young refugees, partnerships with NGOs, or promotion and strengthening of employee volunteering at the Bank.

Initiatives to make culture and the arts more accessible – including “Meetings with music” as part of a long-standing partnership with the National Philharmonic.

The Bank’s social responsibility initiatives are carried out in partnership with third sector organisations (through numerous educational and communication programs) and are possible owing to the extraordinary commitment of our employees. A volunteering program has been active at the Bank since 2011; its motto is: „You can count on me”.

Our initiatives in the field of social responsibility support the UN’S Sustainable Development Goals. We ccounteract social exclusion as well as provide support for education and culture, especially in small communities.

“You can count on me” is the motto of a social involvement initiative at the Bank. True to its name, the project, which has been launched in 2011, encourages employees to engage in social initiatives and support local communities. They cooperate with social organisations and launch their own initiatives. Each employee is entitled to 2 additional days-off per year for volunteering. The project participants can choose between individual volunteer initiatives and team projects. The program is coordinated by the BNP Paribas Foundation.

Our efforts are part of an international initiative of the BNP Paribas Group #1MillionHours2Help. The goal for the BNP Paribas Group worldwide was to devote one million hours to voluntary work in 2020. Due to the pandemic, the initiative was prolonged to include 2021.

Find out more about our volunteering projects by visiting THIS site.

Financial education from an early age is the cornerstone of well-planned and safe financial decisions in adulthood. The Bank’s employees have therefore been visiting primary and secondary schools for the past seven years to provide youth with banking knowledge and experience. The project is a part of the BAKCYL program – Bankers for the Financial Education of Youth, which is coordinated by the Warsaw Banking Institute. BAKCYL is a branch of one of the largest non-commercial educational programs in the European financial sector, “Bankers for Education”, which brings together 170 Banks. The aim is to provide the young generation with practical knowledge in the field of finance. Bank employees volunteer to conduct lessons and share their financial knowledge and experience.

In 2020, due to the pandemic, hybrid lessons were introduced (remote teachers, students in the classroom) and were later replaced by fully online learning. In addition, Bank employees carried out their own, individual initiatives, such as webinars on Children’s Day and online summer workshops devoted to basic legal issues as part of the #BAKCYL entrepreneurship initiative – “Holidays 2020”.

In 2020, the input of BNP Paribas Bank Polska S.A. volunteers was recognised during the 4th Congress of Financial Education, organised by the Warsaw Banking Institute. Seven of our employees received awards for the most active volunteers of the BAKCYL program. 

The Bank has participated in the BAKCYL program since its outset, i.e. since 2013, and is actively involved in educating youth. Initiatives related to the program are coordinated by the BNP Paribas Foundation. Additionally, employees are eager to volunteer and devote their time to the Bank’s pioneer program, launched in 2020 and entitled “Mission: Education” The program introduces children and adolescents – but also adults and seniors – to knowledge about money, savings and expense planning. More information about “Mission: Education” is included in further sections of the present chapter.

Employees of BNP Paribas Bank Polska S.A. can also get involved in social initiatives by being physically active. The “Good Kilometres” campaign is organized annually by the BNP Paribas Foundation. Employees have 30 days to cover as many kilometers as they can while cycling, running or practicing other long-distance sports. They track their activities on the Bank’s social and gamification platform. Each kilometer is converted into funds transferred to an NGO of the employee’s choosing.

This year’s edition will go down in history both due to the unusual circumstances of the pandemic and the record-breaking distance that the employees covered: over 70 thousand kilometres, which corresponds to c. 45 times the distance between Warsaw and Paris. As many as 348 employees took part in the September efforts. The result was achieved through 5,395 activities, such as running, cycling or walking a dog. The effect of our employees’ involvement was a donation of PLN 20 thousand to the “Herosi” Foundation, which helps children undergoing cancer treatment. In addition, the BNP Paribas Foundation donated PLN 5 thousand to three organisations selected by employees: “Rak’n’Roll” Foundation, “Zwalcz Nudę” Foundation and “SOS Wioski Dziecięce”.

Since 2011, the BNP Paribas Foundation has been organising the “Blood Donation Day” in cooperation with Regional Blood Donation Centres. Employees donate blood in mobile blood donation points. In 2020, over 100 employees from three locations (Warsaw Kasprzaka, Cracow Awatar and Ruda Śląska) took part in the campaign. 236 liters of blood have been collected since the beginning of the initiative!

Our individual philanthropy program is based on a payroll mechanism and has been active since September 2017. Employees can decide to make monthly deductions from their salary and donate them to a selected cause. All Bank employees can participate in the program.

In 2020, our employees chose to support the “Alivia” Oncology Foundation and the „Class” scholarship program of the BNP Paribas Foundation. In 2021, the donations will support the “Active Against Depression” Association and the SYNAPSIS Foundation.

Voluntary salary deductions are a simple and convenient tool of individual philanthropy that enables employees to support important social goals and respond to the needs of NGOs (systematic and predictable financial support).