Sinem Ozonur
<IR> Business Network participant
Head of Integrated Thinking and Reporting, Garanti BBVA
The last decade has been marked by constant, high-speed change – one that has fundamentally transformed stakeholder expectations and corporate behaviour. From diminishing resources to major environmental and social crises, the need to transition into a sustainable, all-inclusive economy and society is more evident than ever.
Tackling these issues, relevant to all stakeholder groups, calls for action from members of the entire financial system, including but not limited to financial institutions, investors, regulatory bodies and standard setters.
As the driver of economic development, the business world boasts a huge potential to ensure positive impact. For a sustainable society, however, creating sustainable strategies that integrate all financial, environmental, social and governance-related perspectives is essential.
With its vision of “a world in which capital allocation and corporate behaviour are aligned to the wider goals of financial stability and sustainable development through the cycle of integrated reporting and thinking”, the IIRC plays a key role for both the private and public sector to embed sustainability in all business operations and strategy, which translates into more integrated thinking creating more sustainable value.
The ten-year anniversary of the IIRC marks the culmination of efforts that have completely transformed the reporting landscape for the better. The adoption of integrated reporting by an increasing number of organizations worldwide speaks to the way it helps enhance their value creation capability.
Carrying the responsibility of the finance sector’s crucial role for a sustainable future, we, as Garanti BBVA, have adopted integrated reporting to present our impact for all our stakeholders on account of the core values we champion: trust, integrity, accountability and transparency – the same values that are already embedded in integrated thinking and reporting.
Providing a holistic assessment rather than standalone sustainability and financial reporting targeted at selective stakeholders, integrated reporting enables Garanti BBVA to:
As the first commercial bank in Turkey to disclose its long-term sustainable value creation for the economy and society through an integrated annual report, we have gained a deeper understanding of the capitals we use every day and the relationships we depend on, providing us the opportunity to enhance our total impact.
In more concrete terms, the diverse set of sustainable finance instruments we have launched in recent years, such as the green loan or the gender bond, among others, is no doubt a by-product of our risk and opportunity analysis afforded to us by our commitment to integrated thinking in our business model and strategy.
Going forward, we believe that there is room for growth in the reporting landscape in terms of greater alignment between numerous local and international frameworks that rise in number and complexity each year. Our vision in a singular, globally applicable reporting framework – that encompasses information for all stakeholders in a fully-connected way - is why we greatly appreciate the Corporate Reporting Dialogue convened by the IIRC.
We have no doubt that the IIRC is going to spearhead the corporate reporting landscape in the future – as it did in the last decade.
The ten-year anniversary represents a key milestone on the way the IIRC has paved for better corporate reporting and, as Garanti BBVA, we are proud to be sharing this journey with the IIRC and other organizations committed to integrated thinking and reporting.
