Spuerkeess holds an important place in the economic social development of Luxembourg. Our mission is defined by the law of March 24, 1989:
As a State Bank, Spuerkeess aims to: a) contribute through its activities, in particulan particular through its financing activities, to the economic and social development of the country in all fields, and b) promote savings in all its forms.
For many years, we have been rated AA+ (Standard & Poor's) and Aa2 (Long term Deposit Rating, Moody's) by the international rating agencies. Global Finance magazine ranks Spuerkeess as one of the safest banks in the world and awarded us the title "Safest Bank Award - Luxembourg" in 2020.
As climate change and environmental degradation pose increasing risks to the ecosystem, we aim to create a positive ecological and social impact - for the benefit of our customers and society.
At Spuerkeess, we believe that our profitability is closely linked to sustainability. Being profitable in the long term goes hand in hand with the gradual improvement of our environmental and social performance. As a Bank centered on Luxembourg territory, we will support initiatives for sustainable finance (e.g. LSFI) and we align with Government and European Union programs. The objective is to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Luxembourg by 55% by 2030.
We are focused on the needs of our customers. Our ambition is to be "transition enabler".
This implies that we commit to raising the awareness of our employees as well as supporting economic players towards a sustainable economy while demonstrating an understanding of sectoral and socio-democratic challenges.
Having signed the United Nations Principles for Responsible Banking, we are committed to align our business strategy gradually with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as well as the Paris Climate Agreement.
The pandemic has transformed our workforce management. Our employees work remotely and customer service has moved online. The digitalisation of our Bank has had a positive impact on the environment as we have been able, for example, to reduce our paper consumption by 30%. Furthermore, going digital strengthens our competitivity, especially when facing (and partnering with) newcomers from the FinTech world. By supporting our professional clients with their innovation projects, we contribute to Luxembourg’s digitalisation. In collaboration with the European Investment Fund, we actively support our SME clients (small and medium-sized enterprises). Since 2019, we have funded digitisation and innovation projects of around 11 million euros.
In 2019 we shifted our electricity consumption to 100% renewable sources. Despite the old age of some of our buildings and their classification as historic monuments, we have managed to reduce our annual energy consumption by 45 % since 2008. When buying electric cars, our customers benefit from our preferential financing conditions.
In order to further enhance electro mobility, we have established a cooperation with ACL, Enovos and Leaseplan.
In January 2020, we joined the Zero Single-Use Plastic movement. Instead of using plastic, we have shifted towards the use of environmentally friendly consumables. We hope to reduce the negative impact on the environment and health by providing for example:
In 2019, we launched the Lux-Bond Green which meets the principles of green bonds and since 2020 we have been offering the Lux-Equity Green which invests in projects that seek to improve their environmental footprints - while respecting social criteria.
Our Spuerkeess 2025 Strategic Plan emphasizes the importance of Sustainable Development in our Corporate Strategy. An essential dimension of this strategy is the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk analysis into all our processes and activities of Spuerkeess. This analysis is supplemented by an assessment of the negative and positive impacts of our investments and financing. In order to guarantee sustainable operations, we have decided to develop - in collaboration with external experts - a proprietary ESG assessment and analysis methodology for the different types of asset classes.
Our ESG analysis methodology is based on 4 main pillars; the transparency and quality of ESG indicators and data and their compliance with regulations (1), material ESG criteria relating to the business sector (2), an in-depth analysis of the climate impact (3) and the definition of sector benchmarks (4).
With the younger generation being affected by the effects of the current crisis, we have partnered with the Youth and Work initiative. The our common objective is to support young people in their search for a job or an apprenticeship. In 2020, 8 out of 10 young requesting help, found a job. In 2020, we also financed social housing and socio-educational projects.
Since 2006, we have signed several charters highlighting our determination to be a socially and environmentally responsible bank.
We are aware that the transformation towards sustainable banking is a long-term trajectory. In the short term, we will have to succeed in:
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