Responsible supply chain

Market

GRI:

[102-9] Supply chain

The Contracts and Procurement Department is responsible for the cooperation with suppliers in Santander Bank Polska. All of the bank’s policies concerning the responsible supply chain take into account CSR aspects.

Policies governing supply chain management

Procurement Policy of Santander Bank Polska,
Supplier Selection Procedure of Santander Bank Polska,

Policy of Cooperation with Suppliers of Santander Bank Polska,
Supplier Management Procedure of Santander Bank Polska.

All suppliers are subject to uniform selection rules that take into account, among others, social criteria, employment practices, human rights and environmental commitments. Bidders who take part in procurement procedures fill in a CSR questionnaire concerning the abovementioned areas.

Suppliers in 2019:

1 732

suppliers with annual turnover with the bank exceeding PLN 50,000, including 1 309 suppliers subject to qualification.
426

procurement processes executed by the bank.
94.34%

of the bank’s suppliers are Polish companies or foreign companies with a registered office or branch based in Poland.

CSR in supplier selection

GRI:

[102-10] Significant changes to the organization and its supply chain
[308-1] New suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria
[414-1] New suppliers that were screened using social criteria

Other guidelines:

The bank’s main goal in 2019 in the area of responsible supply chain was to increase the number of suppliers who, as part of the procurement process, are required to complete the CSR questionnaire. The new purchasing system implemented in 2019 made it possible to impose a mandatory obligation on the supplier to complete the CSR questionnaire when submitting a tender offer.

100%

of suppliers who receive a request for quotation through the B-ZONE system complete the CSR questionnaire.

CSR and human rights policies governing supply chain management

Cooperation with suppliers has been addressed in the ″Sustainability Policy″ which includes a declaration that the Group maintains ethical and transparent relations with suppliers, among other things by committing them to the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact. The bank also takes measures to promote mechanisms to identify potential environmental and social risks in the supply chain.

Commitments towards suppliers are included in the ″Human Rights Policy″.

The bank undertakes to:

promote respect for human rights throughout the supply chain, in particular by encouraging suppliers and their employees to comply with their policy obligations, respecting in each case their governance autonomy;
apply the ″Supplier Selection Policy″ which sets out environmental, social and ethical criteria that suppliers are expected to meet;
maintain relations with suppliers who attach great importance to respect for human rights and have their own human rights policies.

Supplier selection process

GRI:

[102-10] Significant changes to the organization and its supply chain

The supplier management process is developed and adapted to the ever-changing business and social realities. In the first half of 2019, we implemented the purchasing and supplier selection process in B-ZONE. This enables us to carry out the entire supplier management process: from purchasing and supplier selection, through qualification, to ordering in one system.

The supplier management process is aligned with international standards of the Santander Group. In practical terms, this means both applying the relevant policies and procedures and having all the bidders involved in the processes – purchasing and supplier qualification – covered by uniform selection rules.

We invite new suppliers to our purchasing processes as often as possible (depending on the purchased goods and services).
Newly signed contracts with our suppliers contain mandatory corporate social responsibility clauses. They oblige suppliers to comply with the 10 principles of the Global Compact established at the United Nations meeting in Davos in January 1999.
Each purchase exceeding PLN 3.5 thousand is covered by the ″Procurement Policy of Santander Bank Polska″. The supplier of a product or service in such a process is required to attach to its offer a completed CSR questionnaire on social responsibility, meet the criteria pertaining to employment practices and respect for human rights and satisfy the environmental criteria (impact of goods and services on the natural environment). The level of social responsibility of suppliers – assessed on the basis of the completed CSR questionnaire – is taken into account in the evaluation of offers and selection of the bank’s supplier and may have an impact on the final choice of the supplier.
Each bank supplier with a turnover exceeding PLN 1 million (the turnover for the previous year is taken into account) has a billing limit set at the beginning of the selection process in order to verify whether it does not become too dependent on the bank and whether it diversifies its sources of income. Suppliers subject to the qualification and providing services critical from the bank’s point of view are asked about sustainable development activities. Their answers are taken into account in the ultimate decision-making process on cooperation with the supplier.
Thanks to the requirement to fill in the CSR questionnaire, all suppliers invited to take part in the procurement process are familiarized with the subject of corporate social responsibility. This means that the questionnaire has also an educational effect.

GRI:

[308-1] Percentage of new suppliers assessed against environmental criteria
[414-1] Percentage of new suppliers assessed for employment practices and human rights compliance

Only those bidders who deliver complete offers by the defined deadline are taken into account in procurement processes.

In 2019 the Procurement Office executed 426 procurement processes. In each of them, there were several, sometimes even a dozen or so offers, and with them – CSR questionnaires.