Sustainability at Heritage
Heritage Bank is Australia's leading customer-owned bank. We exist to serve our members and their communities, not to maximise profit for shareholders. We care about the longevity of our society and know the positive impact we can have. That's why our sustainability approach includes Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives. Learn more about our commitment to our members below
About this Rate
Environmental Sustainability
We’re committed to supporting activities that contribute to greater environmental sustainability. Where possible, we will avoid contributing to unacceptable environmental impacts caused by our activities as well as the activities of our customers, suppliers and business partners.
Reduce our contribution to global warming
We have achieved certification under Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standard for Organisations. This accreditation provides us with the tools that help us identify, reduce and offset our carbon emissions.
Reduce use of natural resources
We are working to reduce the use of natural resources in our business operations wherever possible. We’re looking at solutions to source renewable energy for all Heritage sites, reducing paper consumption and postage emissions by shifting to digital first documentation and installing energy efficient lighting in all our locations by 2024.
Social Sustainability
We’re acting now to create the framework we need, to reduce inequality and exclusion for vulnerable members of our communities.
Ongoing community support
We’re committed to making a minimum of $2.5 million in contributions each year to organisations and initiatives that contribute to the good of the communities in which we operate.
In 2022, investment totalled $7.2 million, a 7% increase from FY2021. This includes direct donations, sponsorship contributions, in-kind support and investment in community branches.
Improve financial literacy
As part of our commitment to improving the financial literacy of vulnerable Australians, we've developed dedicated online resources for migrant communities and over 65s.
We’ve also launched a Migrant Liaison Banking Service in the Toowoomba region, to help new migrants feel more at ease when dealing with banks.
Member value
Through our lending and deposit products with fairer fees and charges, we will offer our members additional financial benefit of at least $40 million in 2021/22 compared to equivalent products offered by the major banks, as measured by Canstar.#
In financial year 2022, member value was calculated at $93.194 million comprising of $34.679 million for deposit related value and $58.515 million in total loan related value.#
Sustainability through Governance
Through adopting high standards of corporate governance and ethical behaviour, we will act with the interest of our members driving our decisions.
Reduce inequality
We provide 24/7 access to our Speak Your Language interpreter service and have an ongoing relationship with the National Relay Service for hearing impaired people.
Our Diversity and Inclusion strategy, Vulnerable Customers Policy and Reflect Level Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) will form the standards for our approach to reducing inequality for vulnerable members of our communities.
Behaviour & culture
Our staff undertake regular competency and compliance training and are offered continued professional development, particularly in areas of credit and financial services. We maintain a Code of Conduct that sets out the acceptable standards of behaviour from our staff, and this code is promoted throughout our business.
We also assess, mitigate and monitor any potential modern slavery risks in line with our Modern Slavery Statement.
Member Charter
Our Member Charter comprises of 9 promises, which outline our commitment to members of Heritage.
It includes a commitment to uphold the Customer Owned Banking Code of Practice and our Complaint Management Promise.
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