Sustainability governance

Regulations & internal governance

The development, management and governance of our sustainability work are based on the priorities of our stakeholders, external regulations and our own ambition to be part of the move towards a sustainable society.

Compliance

Our corporate culture is characterised by respect for regulations and sound practices. We maintain this culture through continuous employee training and monitoring of external regulatory changes. Our Compliance department provides backup to the entire Group on matters related to compliance.

The structure of sustainability governance

The Board of Directors has the ultimate responsibility for governance of the Bank’s sustainability work and is actively engaged in sustainability issues. The Board adopts the Bank’s sustainability strategy every two years.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive is responsible for ensuring implementation of the Bank’s strategy, which shows which way the Bank is moving and what is needed to achieve its established targets. This responsibility also includes sustainability.

Group Management is responsible for strategic sustainability work at the Bank of Åland. Based on a yearly materiality analysis and the Bank’s sustainability strategy, the Executive Team creates plans for each sustainability area.

The Sustainability Team − consisting of our sustainability manager, sustainability strategist, sustainability developer and responsible investment manager − carries out the Bank’s overall sustainability work and acts as a forum for questions and decisions.

The Group’s ESG Committee for sustainable investments is tasked with monitoring global events, initiating and pursuing development work in sustainable investments and ensuring that the Bank of Åland’s investment activities follow the strategy and guidelines for sustainable investments.

The Bank’s Regulatory Group compiles all global monitoring results and also maintains a list of the regulations that must be implemented.

The Working Group for the Environmental Field consists of committed employees who monitor general environmental issues, pursue and initiate environmental and climate-related development issues related to the Bank’s sustainability strategy and follow up its environmental work.

The Bank’s project organisation carries out development and implementation projects related to sustainability.