Company Profile
BayernLB was formed in 1972 from the merger of Landesbodenkreditanstalt and Bayerische Gemeindebank. Today, with total assets of EUR 415,6 billion (as of 31 December 2007) at its disposal and 19,200 employeees around the globe, BayernLB counts as one of Germany`s leading banks and as a renowned provider of financial services worldwide.
The Bank`s legal status is that of an “institutional established under public law”. It is owned (indirectly via BayernLB Holding AG) by the Free State of Bavaria and the Association of Bavarian Savings Banks, each with a 50 percent stake.
BayernLB and Sustainability
BayernLB follows a climate protection strategy that is comprised of the following steps:
Climate protection strategy
Step I – Avoidance:
The most important step in the implementation of the climate protection strategy is the continuing avoidance of operational CO2 emissions through active energy and resources management.
Step II – Substitution:
BayernLB has been satisfying its electricity needs using certified hydropower since 1st January 2007.
Step III – Compensation:
Moreover, BayernLB has decided to compensate for a part of the CO2 emissions that are caused through unavoidable use of resources and has therefore contrived to make the entire paper consumption of the company climate neutral. For this, emission certificates were purchased and voided from a climate project in Eritrea. BayernLB also fulfils its responsibilities in the design of their banking products.
Bank products
Pass through business:
As a service unit in the pass through business for the Bavarian savings banks, BayernLB provides comprehensive consultation for ecological measures in commercial, private and agricultural sectors. The extension of credit includes themes such as “CO2 building remediation”, “ecological farming”, “commercial climate protection” etc.
Sustainable Financial Investments:
Institutional as well as private investors are making increasing sure to invest in companies that bring economical, ecological and social targets together in harmony and are increasingly demanding sustainable financial investments. The BayernLB is also active in this sector. With “Value-Sustainability-Funds” and a “Value-Sustainability-Certificate” the BayernLB offers its customers the possibility of bringing the socio-political meaningful desire for principle oriented investments into harmony with superior return expectations.
Financing of renewable energies:
The financing of renewable energies is a central component of our strategy in the fight against climate change. BayernLB has positioned itself very well in this field of business. Following the successful financing of large scale photovoltaic plants together with the Bavarian savings banks, BayernLB, together with the Kreissparkasse Munich Starnberg, has taken over the financing of the largest geothermal project currently being undertaken in Germany in Unterhaching. The Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Bavaria was thereby able to solidify its position as the leading financer of renewable energies in Bavaria.
Kyoto services:
BayernLB undertakes climate protection projects for its customers in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol with its subsidiary Energy & Commodity Services (ECS). Climate protection projects in the sense of the Kyoto Protocol are concerned with project related measures that lead to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Sustainable credit transactions
Back in 2004 we committed ourselves to complying with the environmental and social standards of the World Bank in our Bank-wide credit risk strategy. To this end, we have integrated these standards, which comprise around 70 guidelines, into checklists designed for our internal workflows. In this way we have succeeded – in contrast to many other banks – in making the World Bank’s standards practicable and part of our own standard procedure.
BayernLB and Sustainability on the web
http://www.bayernlb.de/internet/de/content/metanav/bayernlb/unternehmerische_verantwortung_1/nachhaltigkeitsmanag_3/nachhaltigkeitsmanag.jsp