Governance
The global Sustainability department helps cascade sustainability responsibilities to subject-matter experts throughout the various business units. These experts help develop ING’s policies, programmes and targets on sustainability-related risks and opportunities, in line with our global strategy.
Our global head of Sustainability reports directly to ING’s CEO. Sustainability/ESG leads in major countries have a functional line to the global head of Sustainability in order to create a stronger connection between global and local activities.
ESG has become a regular topic on the Management Board Banking (MBB) agenda and all members have ESG-related key performance indicators that are cascaded through ING’s business lines.
The Supervisory Board also has a committee to oversee ESG topics. The ESG Committee assists the Supervisory Board with matters relating to the various areas of ESG, including but not limited to, the development of ESG and the integration of ESG in the company and its strategy. In addition, the ESG Committee assists the Supervisory Board by generally monitoring and advising on relevant ESG developments.
ING has also created an ‘ESG Sounding Board’ and is comprised of around 15 senior leaders from across the organisation. The ESG Sounding Board helps guide the development and implementation of our strategy, related to ESG topics, as well as monitoring and reporting on our progress. It's organised by ING Sustainability, co-chaired by the ESG Risk Centre of Expertise.
Corporate Audit Services (CAS) provides independent assurance to the Executive Board, the Supervisory Board and the Audit Committee on the quality and effectiveness of ING’s internal control, risk management, governance and implemented systems and processes. This includes, among others, audits covering consumer protection standards, market ethical standards and IT security policies and systems.