The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), the Number One Bank in the UAE, has released its third annual Sustainability Report titled “CatalysingChange," which highlights the achievements made during the year and the Bank's goals for the future. “The annual Sustainability Report serves to highlight NBAD's successes and to help the Bank strategise areas for improvements," saysAbdulla M.S. AbdulRaheem, the Deputy Group Chief Executive of NBAD. “Moreover, publishing the annual Sustainability Report serves as a medium for transparency and accountability to our stakeholders." The Executive Summary of ‘Catalysing Change'has been printedon 100% recycled paper. The full Sustainability Report is only available online: http://www.nbad.com/en/Sustainability/Pages/OurSustReports.aspx NBAD's achievements in 2011 include advancing several positions in Global Finance's exclusive World's 50 Safest Banks to become the safest Middle East Bank; opening of the second NBAD Academy to support employees' professional development; reducing water consumption by 43%, exceeding the Bank's target of 10%; increasing representation of women in leadership positions including 51% of branch management; launching nine new Business Banking Centres to increase support to small andmediumsized enterprises (SME); and integrating sustainability factors into internal audit programmes. “NBAD's Corporate Sustainability strategy encourages the Bank to continuously innovate and focus on achieving both greater return on investment for our stakeholders and the economic and social development of the UAE," says Sally Paterson, the Head of Business Planning and Strategy at NBAD. Belinda Scott, the Senior Manager of Corporate Sustainability at NBAD, says: “Corporate Sustainability is about how we are working towards adapting our operations, and the way we work, to meet risks and take advantage of the opportunities emerging from the global environmental and social challenges which are becoming increasingly urgent regionally. Within NBAD, we are thinking more about the long term and how global realities will affect the need for, or relevance of, our products and services. We see sustainability as a way to unleash new potential and innovations by allowing us to see things in different ways and evaluate ideas using different measures. The publication of our annual sustainability report is a way of sharing our progress and challenges with all our stakeholders."
