Barrier-free Bank

GRI:

[103-1] For the reporting aspect: Availability of products and services
[103-2] For the reporting aspect: Availability of products and services
[103-3] For the reporting aspect: Availability of products and services
[103-1] For the reporting aspect: Prevention of financial exclusion, financial education
[103-2] For the reporting aspect: Prevention of financial exclusion, financial education
[103-3] For the reporting aspect: Prevention of financial exclusion, financial education

We are a personal bank – a bank for entrepreneurs and students, young people and seniors, active persons and persons with restricted mobility, high-income and low-income individuals, residents of large cities and rural areas, customers visiting branches and customers having the whole bank in their mobiles … Regardless of the circumstances, we want to make our services easily accessible and aligned with your needs and offer solutions which make life easier every day.

We are a personal bank. We implement solutions to make sure that our products and services are accessible to everyone, including persons with disabilities and seniors. We want to include in the banking system new groups of people, especially the ones for whom there is often no proposal.

GRI:

[G4-FS14] Initiatives to improve access to financial services for disadvantaged people
[Custom indicator 11] Number of bank branches with the Barrier-free certificate

Since 2010, we have been developing a program called ”Barrier-free Service” which aims to provide people with special needs full access to the bank’s services and products. New solutions are designed in consultation with customers and experts and launched in all service channels

Barrier-free branches

Solutions available in the branches:

priority-service desks;
mini magnifiers and frames for signing documents by persons with speial needs;
advisors trained in the professional service of persons with disabilities;
online video connection with an advisor using the Polish Sign Language – since 2014 our advisors have provided services to customers with hearing impairments through a dedicated video call line.

Another solution available in selected branches is:

Induction loop – a device which combines the functionalities of an audio signal receiver, amplifier and transmitter. It improves the comfort of conversations and facilitates the service of customers with hearing impairments. Induction loops are available in 21 branches of the bank.

As part of the Barrier-free service program, our bank conducts regular audits of its branches to assess their architectural accessibility to customers with disabilities and friendliness of the interior design.

Barrier-free branches in 2018:

156

branches with „Barrier-free branch certificate” ¹Find a branch
19

accessibility audits carried out in partnership with TUS Foundation according to the methodology of niepelnosprawnik.pl
17

branches with accessibility certificates

over 300

bank employees trained in the service of customers with various special needs (classroom and e-learning training)
21

branches equipped with portable induction loops Find a branch
13

local projects executed in 2018 by the employees of branches with the ”Barrier-free certificate” for the sake of social integration, education and change of the perception of persons with disabilities in the local communities

¹ AS at 6 May, 2019. At the end of 2018, the number of branches was 149.

Barrier-free service is also made possible thanks to talking ATMs which facilitate withdrawal of cash by blind and visually impaired persons. At present, we have 195 ATMs of this kind in Poland.

Talking ATMs

Headphones – blind or visually impaired persons listen to voice instructions generated by special software which help them withdraw cash, activate a card or change the PIN code.

Special signage – in 2018, Santander Bank Polska provided special signage for talking ATMs using stickers in the Braille alphabet and highly contrasting colours

The Talking ATMs operated by Santander Bank Polska can be used by holders of the cards issued by any bank. Find a talking ATM

The ”Barrier-free Service” program is much more than just adapting the infrastructure to the needs of persons with disabilities and includes a range of other activities:

- Implementation of technological solutions making the bank’s services accessible to customers with special needs e.g. biometric solutions to facilitate customer identification;
- Alignment of processes to the needs of persons with disabilities, for instance, to enable customer service in the Polish Sign Language and the launch of the END-2-END process for the service of impaired loans and overdue repayments. As a result, customers with hearing impairments can obtain information about their debt by getting in touch with our Contact Centre;
- Advisor education and raising the awareness of the significance of accessibility of the bank’s services to persons with special needs. The Barrier-free Service module is now a permanent element of the induction training provided to new employees of the Contact Centre;
- Adaptation of advertising and educational communication to the needs of visually impaired persons and (audio description) and persons with hearing impairments (subtitles and an interpreter into the Polish Sign Language) in respect of the content published on the bank’s YouTube channel and the website of the Barrier-free program.

Santander mobile and Santander Internet

We were the first bank in Poland to have introduced customer service in the Polish Sign Language in remote channels based on our own resources. Our customers can communicate with an online advisors in the Polish Sign Language via Santander mobile and Santander Internet.

For a number of years, Santander Internet and Santander mobile have been regularly audited by experts in terms of their accessibility to customers with disabilities.

Did you know…?

There are around 5 million Poles affected by disabilities ¹. This is close to 15% of the total population.
156 branches of our bank are adapted to the needs of persons with disabilities.

¹ According to: http://niepelnosprawni.gov.pl/

Universal accessibility of financial services preventing financial exclusion should be a standard. A bank which is aware of the diverse needs of its customers will always have the best proposal. Customers with disabilities will highly appreciate institutions in which accessibility of services is a natural consequence of reliable and consistent planning. The Barrier-free service program is to me a platform for ensuring a persistent and structured evolution towards general accessibility of services.

Barrier-free Bank

Barrier-free branches in 2018:

Santander mobile and Santander Internet

Maciej Augustyniak, President of the Barrier-Free Poland Foundation