OUR WORK WITH SUPPLIERS
Since 2007 our purchasing team has been sharing knowledge and expertise with a number of procurement professionals from organisations across the financial services industry. The Financial Services Purchasing Forum (FSPF) includes HSBC, Lloyds, Aviva and American Express as well as many of our strategic Business Partners.
Last year, a sub-group of this forum was formed specifically to share current best practices and build a consistent approach to the management of corporate responsibility (CR) issues within financial services supply chains. All the members have worked together on delivering initiatives and common tools designed to engage and assess suppliers and increase the knowledge of CR within organisations.
The results of the collaboration include the production of ‘buying guides’, a set of questions to help buyers consider corporate responsibility when purchasing goods or services. This work has recently seen this sub-group shortlisted as a finalist for the 2009 Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply’s ‘Best Contribution for Corporate Responsibility’ Award.
Corporate procurement regularly issues these buying guides to all our purchasing employees at half-yearly CR Forums.
Our Sustainable Procurement Policy clearly states our CR requirements for suppliers and how we will support them in managing their social and environmental impacts. We continue to ask suppliers about how and where things were produced; if they are ethically sourced, meet environmental standards, and even the standards of working conditions.
In 2009, we spent £333m (2008: £431m) with our suppliers.
