I am pleased to confirm that The National Bank reaffirms its support to the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact in the areas of Human Rights, Labour, Environment and Anti-Corruption. The National Bank also supports the SDGs and takes actions to help achieve the goals.

In our 5th annual Communication on Progress, we describe our actions to integrate the Global Compact and its principles into our business strategy, culture and daily operations. We are also committed to share this information with our stakeholders using our primary channels of communication.

Yours Sincerely

Talal Nasereddin
Chairman of Board

The National Bank adopts the United Nations Global Compact principles of human rights. TNB respects human rights and makes sure to implement all its related principles in our day to day operations .TNB has made it clear that it refuses any kind of human rights abuses. TNB is the only bank in Palestine that sought executing gender audit through UN Women to asses its approaches on equality in the work place and its offering to the Palestinian community.

Human rights principles in The National Bank(TNB) are adopted in several ways; As a financial institution TNB believes that every Palestinian have the right to hold a bank account, have access to finance and benefit from services that banks provide and therefore, TNB has focused on reaching out to suburbs and rural areas in Palestine through its expansion plans, 8 out of 19 branches are located in Palestinian villages and rural areas 5 areas of which we are the only bank serving its residents, believing that this could contribute towards financial inclusion.

Women form half of the Palestinian society, and are underserved financially in the Palestinian banking market. TNB was the leader in launching a special savings account that is dedicated to Palestinian women, after a research that was done on several phases, to figure out their exact financial need and provide it to them through this program. TNB found out that Palestinian women need financial security and when they were asked to define it, the answer was a house, steady income, educating their children and through the research it was also apparent that Palestinian women tend to save through buying gold. As a result, TNB has created “Hayati” Savings Program providing all these needs in one program. TNB has also financed a total sum of $2.5 Million as microloans for women, 125 projects were financed and have created an average of 3 to 4 jobs per project.
In 2017, TNB has launched the first comprehensive banking program for Palestinian women that include all the banking services varying from loans, accounts to cards, with preferential rates on interest rates and flexibility in payments. The percentages of gender inclusion kept rising, now females make 32% of TNB’s clients’ base, 51% of the savers are females and females who took MSME loans form 22.2% of the clients’ base and 21% of the e-services users are females.
In addition to its financial women empowerment program, In 2018, TNB has contributed to empowering Palestinian women through its sustainable CSR program in various sectors such as women health, entrepreneurship, women sports, and women education.

TNB believes in gender equality and actively works on investing in their female employees through encouraging them to seek higher education, training courses and introducing them to the latest technologies reached in the field. Females at TNB form 35% of the employees and hold many vital positions such as managers and head of sections.
In 2018, in partnership with UN Women and through the ILO’s methodology, TNB has conducted the Gender Audit, and has achieved very good results in gender equality through its unique banking products, CSR program and in the work place. In first Quarter of 2019, TNB and UN Women will hold a joint press conference to announce the results of the audit publicly and encourage the local organizations to follow the footsteps of TNB and conduct the gender audit as a first step towards gender equality.
Our staff is also committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity, neutrality and impartiality at work and outside. TNB refuses all kinds of abuses to human rights including discrimination and stereotyping, which has been made clear to all our employees and stakeholders.

Reports on regular basis, are provided by our Human Resources Department to our senior management team on implementing the UNGS’s human rights principles, if any violation occurs it will be reported instantly and correction actions are taken directly. TNB is working on implementing the recommendations in the UN Women report regarding gender equality, by the end of 2019 all the recommendations will be turned into actions.

The National Bank adopts the United Nations Global Compact principles of labour, we also work within the regulations of the Palestinian Ministry of Labour, which ensures implementing all regulations including abolition of child labour and the elimination of discrimination.

TNB is an equal organization that believes in democracy which will definitely lead to finding productive solutions to any potential problem, we have built an internal system to encourage collective bargaining and ease the communication between employees and the senior management team, the system is an application that facilitates the dialogue between the staff and the management and keeps the dialogue vertical and healthy. Employees could whistle blow any error or problem they face directly through this app to the management to investigate and take action. TNB has developed a social committee for employees to ensure surrounding them with social activities and encourage keeping strong relationships between them and the senior management team, and hold bank retreats on regular basis to ensure high level of face to face communication between management and staff. TNB has also created a group on Facebook that includes all its employees and management to ensure no communication gap between all parties. TNB also provides health care insurance to all employees and their families. Motivations are granted on an annual base according to evaluations revised and signed by the employees themselves. TNB invests in their own employees by encouraging them to seek higher education, training courses and introducing them to the latest technologies reached in the field. Our Human Resource Department has circulated UNGS’s 10 principles to all our employees, and were asked to engage them in their day to day operations. TNB’s working environment is full of respect, neutrality and democracy. In the year 2015, The National Bank has signed the Women Empowerment Principles which is a joint initiative of the United Nations Global Compact to also advance gender equality in the workplace. Female 3staffs form 35% of TNB’s employees. Female employees at TNB hold vital positions such as Managers and Head of Sections. Female representation on TNB board of directors is 27%, 3 out of 11 members are females who hold a vast experience in finance and banking. TNB complies with the Palestinian labour law, and provides more privileges for the employees than what the law legislates. TNB also complies to the regulator's rule in hiring a minimum percentage of 5% of people with special needs.

Our senior management team receives regular reports from the Human Resources Department concerning recruitment, and implementation of the labour principles. TNB complies to the Palestinian labour rules and regulations, If any violation occurs, it is reported immediately and correction actions are taken instantly. Our PR department also provides senior management team with reports evaluating the satisfaction of employees, to guarantee a healthy work environment full of equality, respect and democracy.

The National Bank has adopted the United Nations Global Compact principles concerning the Environment. Ever since signing up with the UN Global Compact, environment related issues became one of the major priorities in our strategies. Environment is also one of the major guidelines for our CSR policy.

At The National Bank, we consider protecting the environment as a main pillar in our business and CSR strategies. We are proud to be the first bank in Palestine to adopt and implement OPIC’s Social and Environmental policy, and as a result, we have created a monitoring system to track the projects we finance to fully meet international standards in protecting environment, preventing pollution, reducing global warming, protecting agricultural lands and natural resources, and supporting renewable energy sources projects. The National Bank boasts the largest Agricultural loans portfolio among banks in Palestine and has also developed a renewable energy sources loan program to encourage Palestinians use clean sources of energy with a lower impact on environment.
The National Bank has also contributed towards several initiatives and done several campaigns to raise the awareness on protecting the environment. The National Bank has also raised the value of volunteering within its staff by creating internal voluntary groups to contribute towards the community in line with its CSR program strategies. In the past year, TNB employees have proved their capabilities as individuals in contributing towards sustainable development of the Palestinian society through several environmental initiatives including: Greening and planting lands, helping farmers during harvest seasons, olive picking, cleaning and sweeping streets of neighborhoods and much more.

In addition to adopting UNGC’s principles on environment, The National Bank is also proud to be the first bank in Palestine to adopt and implement OPIC’s Social and Environmental policy. TNB has built a strict monitoring system to track its investments and projects adhering to compliance with law, human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment, labour right, protection of natural habitats, conservation of biological diversity, climate change, pollution prevention and resource efficiency, public health, physical and cultural heritage and the protection of agricultural lands and soil conservation. Reports are sent to senior management on regular basis to guarantee fulfilling the environmental related issues and implementing our friendly environment policy in all our operations.

The National Bank adopts the United Nations Global Compact principles on Anti-corruption. And works under other universal policies such as: Anti Money Laundering, Know Your Customer and Combating Terrorists Financing. And also adopts other universal policies concerning governance.TNB combats corruption in all its forms and refuses all kinds of extortion and bribery in addition to ensuring transparency and bank secrecy acts, which is our core value.

The National Bank always ensures that its operations are all done in compliance with the UNGC’s anti-corruption principles; reports on every client are made, sources of money must be identified, all precautionary procedures are taken in order to guarantee clean sources of money. TNB also maintains the highest levels of transparency and regulatory compliance, in accordance with the highest international and regional standards, implementing international policies such as Anti Money Laundering (AML), Combating Terrorists Financing (CTF), and Know Your Customer (KYC) in addition to the best practices of governance. In 2017, TNB has implemented the best governance practices by adding 3 new members to its board of directors, 2 of them are independents and one representing the minority shareholders, to ensure that all shareholders can participate in decision making. In September 2018, TNB has amended the article of memorandum to be able to increase the number of independent members to its board complying with the best practices of governance. TNB has also created a specialized department for AML that reports directly to the board and the regulator “PMA”.
UNGC’s principles on Anti-corruption are circulated to all TNB’s employees, and are asked to engage these principles in their day to day operations.

Our Compliance, Risk and Audit Departments regularly provide the BOD with reports concerning compliance with the UN Global Compact principles about Anti-corruption, if any violation occurs, it is reported directly to the Board of Directors and correction actions are taken immediately. TNB BOD committees always ensure that the bank complies with the local and international regulations and inspect the bank’s operations through the monitoring departments.
TNB was given Aman’s Integrity Award for its transparency and integrity in 2012.