Corporate social responsibility in Luminor

Sustainability in our core

Sustainability in our core

Luminor is determined to run our business and foster its growth in the Baltic region in a responsible, sustainable and caring manner by setting objectives for reaching positive impact on environment and society while developing financial products and openly disclosing achievements thereof by means of periodic reports and committing to support its customers in achieving their sustainability goals.

Luminor’s Sustainability Policy

In our activities we follow the guidance provided in Luminor’s Sustainability Policy (Summary statements and key principles are provided here), supported by other relevant policies, guidelines and procedures. The policy is effective from November 2021 and integrates the key regulatory requirements and recommendations.

While all Division Heads of Luminor are responsible for following and implementing the ESG policies and guidelines in their respective areas of business, the Head of Sustainability is mandated with the overall coordination of the field. In addition, we have defined the climate risk related accountabilities and decision bodies and documented in the Sustainability Policy.

Sustainability Report 2021

In 2021, we made great progress on our main sustainability focuses:

  • Responsible and CO2 neutral in our own operations.
  • Support the transition to low carbon economy.
  • Caring for issues in local societies – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania.

We committed to aligning ourselves to Paris Climate Agreement and to carbon neutrality by 2050. We are the first in our home markets to have disclosed our financed emissions for our corporate lending portfolio.

Read more about our sustainability-related activities and other ambitious targets in our first Luminor Sustainability Report 2021.

ESG Due Diligence Guidelines and Sustainable Investment Guidelines

We have ESG Due Diligence Guidelines in place that define the principles for due assessment and management of any negative impacts on society and environment that might be caused by our business activities. The statement on the ESG Due Diligence Guidelines providing a brief description of the established processes is published here.

We also established Sustainable Investment Guidelines that outline the Sustainable Investment principles, including sustainability risk integration in the investment decision‑making process in Luminor Bank and its Asset Management Subsidiaries. The statement on the Sustainable Investment Guidelines providing a brief description of the main principles is published here.

Furthermore, we have established ESG Risk Assessment Guidelines that describe and integrate the assessment process of ESG risks of the legal entities into the existing overall creditworthiness assessment process.

ESG seminars in Luminor

We are offering online seminars on various aspects of climate impact relevant to our business customers. Read further and register here.

Our responsible practices

Transformation to low carbon economy

Measuring emissions: We joined Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) in July 2021 and have implemented the accounting standard for GHG accounting of our financed projects´ and investments´ emissions. We disclosed our emissions on Scope 1 (direct fuel use and waste generation), Scope 2 (electricity and heating use) and Scope 3 (influenced emissions such as supply chain emissions, business travel, employee commuting and our corporate lending portfolio emissions) in the scope of our annual reporting for 2021.

EU taxonomy: We are implementing EU taxonomy reporting and have disclosed our EU taxonomy eligible portfolio in line with the regulatory expectations in the scope of our annual reporting.

Sustainable finance: We are determined to build a green product portfolio to support the transition to low carbon economy. Currently, we offer:

Environmental risk assessment: We perform an environmental and social impact assessment on the total consequences of large scale high environmental impact projects and customers.

Sector strategies: In June 2022, we approved industry ESG risk management guidelines for sectors where we deem the climate impact to be high – agriculture, construction, retail trade, manufacturing, energy. These guidelines outline the key risks per sector and the mitigation actions that we would expect our customers to undertake. Furthermore, we have launched a series of seminars to build climate risk and transition related knowledge among our customers. Read more under our Climate seminars.

Human rights

Employees and labor rights

We ensure gender-sensitive zero tolerance policy commitment towards all forms of gender-based discrimination in employment and occupation, including psychological harm and verbal, physical and sexual harassment. Read our policy principles here.

  • This is supported by our Remuneration Policy and Base Salary Management Standard and internal processes, our recruitment and development practices and processes.
  • All our policies and processes are gender neutral.
  • We do our best to ensure health and safety for employees, clients and visitors. All internal and local regulations are ensured, including as described in the ILO conventions and the MNE Declaration. 
  • We require our third parties to ensure fair employment practices:

    Discrimination: The Third Party shall ensure fair treatment of employees.

    Freedom of Association: The Third Party shall respect the right of the Third Party’s employees to establish, join trade unions, and any other association of their choice.

    Prohibited Labour: The Third Party shall ensure that no forced labor or child labor is used.

    Working Conditions: The Third Party shall ensure that working conditions, hours and voluntary overtime are in accordance with the local regulation and industry practice, and that remuneration and benefits meet legally mandated minimums without unauthorized deductions.

    Health and Safety: The Third Party shall ensure a safe and healthy workplace for all employees, which is appropriately documented and implemented considering the  size, nature, and risks of the Third Party’s operations.

Corruption and financial crime

We are determined to fight financial crime, such as tax evasion or money laundering and to prevent financing of terrorism, breach or evasion of international sanctions and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction through any of our products, services or channels. To that end, we carefully follow area-specific legislation of our operating countries – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as international best practices and have adopted relevant policies. Read more:

Whistleblowing: Raise Your Concern channel.

Further information on combating money laundering and terrorism financing can be found here.

Customer privacy, data security and complaints

  • Customer privacy and data security
  • Complaints and feedback handling
  • We take data protection and the storage and processing of customer data and information in the course of business very seriously. It is important to us that the customer feels safe. The information we provide on our website is designed to help the customer to exercise their individual rights and to provide a quick and satisfactory resolution, as well as explaining how to make a complaint if this is unsuccessful. Information Security Policy Principles are applicable for all Luminor Bank AS and its subsidiaries.

Caring for Baltic issues

We aim to contribute to the local Baltic communities through community investment, through active engagement with organizations  for Baltic issues and through promotion and support of social entrepreneurship in the Baltics. We aim to do that by dedicated product and service solutions aligned to our existing capabilities and educational and awareness-raising cooperation projects such as financial and digital literacy and other education or social entrepreneurship promotion programs.

In 2021, Luminor Latvia and the Social Entrepreneurship Association of Latvia began working together, launching the "Pitch Contest" (Piču konkurss) project and encouraging social entrepreneurs to submit their ideas in order to receive a material grant for the idea's execution.

The partnership was maintained in 2022, launching the social entrepreneur training program "The Academy of Change" for the first time. It is being held as of April and will go through September. The "Pitch Contest" is also happening for the second year in the row, ending in September.

Luminor promotes financial literacy by frequently educating society/the public through the media and also offering lectures to students and pupils.

In 2022, Luminor began participating in the project "Life Ready" to educate pupils of different ages about financial literacy, fraud, and other crucial subjects in education and daily life.