effectively engaging with banks

Johan Frijns, coord@banktrack.org

Effectively Engaging with Banks

some BankTrack experiences

TBLI conference AmsterdamNovember 14 2008

Outline

- What is BankTrack?

- How do we do things

- Engaging with banks;

CSR policy development

Equator Principles

Dealing with Dodgy Deals

- Some lessons

BankTrack:Worldwide NGO network

28 members and partners

Collective tool to monitor investments and activities of

commercial banks

Consultation and dialogue where possible..

Stir up troublewhen needed!

What we are not

“The People / Civil Society”

“The Environmental Movement”

“The NGOs”

“Local stakeholders / Affected Communities”

“free consultants”

We only speak on behalf of:

Ourselves, (mandated by members of our members, or because of NGO legitimate role of change agents in the market of ideas)

Project affected communities and local partners, only when explicitly mandated by them

1. Engaging on CSR policies

Analysis of credit policies of 45 banks, benchmark against best practices

Based on ongoing dialogue with banksFollow up; involvement in specific policy developments

Bank profiles, online engagement

- Contribute to public scrutiny

- One stop shop for banks to check NGO thinking and expectations

- Option for banks to directly review and publicly comment on postings

(fostering accountability of NGOs towards banks)

2. NGO - Equator Principles banks Dialogue

• String of meetings between NGOs and Equator banks, ongoing since 2004, low frequency

• Legitimacy for banks, access for NGOs, provided basis is right.

• Good cooperation during IFC Safeguard policies review; shared interest in clear standards, even when differences about scope and content.

• Better governance, slightly more transparency, expanded scope

• Current focus on expansion of scope of Principles, inclusion of new issues (climate change!) and implementation on the ground

3. Dealing with Dodgy Deals

3. Dealing with Dodgy DealsEquator Principles require stakeholder engagement for large impact projects

“Free, Prior Informed Consultation”“Culturally appropriate, own language”“Consent when engaging with indigenous communities”

Communities need to have influence on outcomes SEIA and resulting Action Plan

Grievance mechanism in place for dealing with violations of Action Plan

Little information on how this works in practice, but secrecy is huge obstacle

BankTrack engaged with banks in “discussions” on individual deals; provide information, access to communities, free consultation on material risks

Do’s and Dont’s when engaging with NGOs

Do’s

Be transparent; dialogue requires openness; share what needs to be shared to talk straight. (and yes, we’ve heard about client confidentiality)

Be transparent etc

Put up the resources; to meaningfully engage with NGOs needs a serious investment in people and time

Engage in a process with a beginning and an end, keep NGOs informed on what you did with the information/input/ promise/commitment.

Do’s and Dont’s when engaging with NGOs

Dont’s

Tick box mentality; “Friday afternoon; let’s do that NGO/consultation/outreach thingie”

“Which of all these NGO would agree with us on this? Lets go see them” (if it feels comfortable you probably talk with the wrong people)

Talking to BankTrack is no substitute to consultation with local stakeholders; go and meet them on the beaches!

Limit NGO engagement to those folks sitting in the basement, meanwhile continue business as usual

Do’s and Dont’s when engaging with banks

- sloppy preparation, poor data

- disregarding the essence of them being a bank

- no mandate, no local stakeholder consultation

- ignore outcomes of process, continue campaigning regardless of whatever

www.banktrack.org