Kiwibank is proud to announce that it has become a Certified B Corporation™, joining a growing global movement of businesses that are committed to balancing purpose and profit.
B Corp™ is the global standard when it comes to measuring a company’s performance against environmental, social and governance measures (ESG).
Chief Executive, Steve Jurkovich, said he was thrilled that the bank had achieved a B Corp Impact score of 90.3. Businesses often start with scores in the 50s or 60s and need to do considerable work to achieve the certification benchmark score of 80 points. Kiwibank’s score is strong for its first certification, setting a basis on which to continue improving.
“Our purpose, Kiwi making Kiwi better off, has always guided us – whether that be through good customer and team outcomes or our community partnerships.
“We know the most highly regarded purpose-led organisations measure how they deliver on their purpose and a component of this is having an ESG baseline. While we always believed we were on the right track we wanted to test this.
“B Corp certification will also give our customers confidence Kiwibank is doing good, acting responsibly, and considering future generations through its products, practices, and profits as we deliver on our purpose of making Kiwi better off.
“As a father of Gen Zs I’m very aware our younger generations are demanding more from the companies they work for, invest in, or buy from. And as a bank CE I know customers are choosing to support businesses that can demonstrate that they’re operating responsibly,” he said.
What B Corp means
Being a B Corp is being a different type of business. For Kiwibank it’s about banking done differently. Whether the B Corp company is big or small, we all have the same obligation to consider the impact of our decisions on our people, customers, suppliers, community and the environment.
“This is also about Kiwibank demonstrating leadership in this space, which we will look to build on over the coming years to help other businesses understand the benefits of adopting a balanced approach to doing business.
“This is not a one-off exercise. B Corps must continuously improve their performance to meet evolving standards and new benchmarks with each new assessment. Kiwibank is committed to a journey of improvement.
“It is my personal belief all business should be conducted as if people and place matters,” Mr Jurkovich concluded.
Ends.
Media contact: Ben Mabon, Head of External Communications 027 288 3263.