Society

Our strategy

Our goals and activities in the field of community engagement are largely shaped by the ‘Total Responsibility’ strategic direction.

What we do

We support society by providing education, combating financial exclusion and making social investments.
We counteract digital exclusion and ensure a high level of cybersecurity.
We communicate our social initiatives to raise awareness of our impact.

How we do it

We launch educational programmes on finance and cybersecurity.
We strive to reduce financial exclusion.
We continue to develop social support initiatives.
We keep investing in communities, focusing on social care, entrepreneurship and the environment.

Our policies

Policy	Description
Environmental and Social Risk Management Policy	This document sets out our policy regarding investments, offering of financial products and the provision of services to clients operating in sectors such as oil and gas, energy generation and transmission, mining, metals and soft commodities.
Responsible Banking and Sustainability Policy	The policy sets out the principles, guidelines and processes concerning environmental, social and governance issues. The policy covers, amongst other things, topics such as dialogue with stakeholders and social agenda initiatives.
Sensitive Activities Policy	With regard to the impact on communities, the new policy stipulates that: Customers in certain sensitive sectors where reputational risk is heightened are subject to a detailed assessment. This policy applies, for example, to the gambling and betting industry, the cannabis industry and the tobacco industry. We make donations in accordance with our approved social agenda. The policy sets out the types of organisations eligible to receive donations (e.g. NGOs), as well as the rules and procedures for awarding them.
Defence Sector Policy	This policy governs our relations with entities operating in the defence sector. The document emphasises the need to comply with international treaties (including those on human rights) and sanctions regulations. The policy also identifies categories of controversial weapons that the bank will not finance.
Reputational Risk Management Policy	The document describes how we manage the risks associated with negative impacts on our reputation, including how we are perceived by our key stakeholders.

Our targets

Financial inclusion means counteracting financial exclusion. The objective in this area is to increase access to basic financial products and services, such as bank accounts, transactions, payments, digital services and financing.

These measures are aimed at people who are unbanked or who do not have sufficient access to banking services. We achieve this objective, in particular, by providing access to a network of partner outlets and ATMs in areas where there are no bank branches. Our activities are carried out in accordance with an internal methodology based on international standards, primarily those of UNEP FI.

Number of beneficiaries of financial inclusion measures

377,788

Performance 2024–2025

Number of beneficiaries of financial inclusion measures

660,070

Plan for 2024–2027

Activities

We undertake initiatives to support local communities in line with the priorities set out in the bank’s strategy. The most important include:

These activities are aimed at the general public, including entrepreneurs, students and young people. We support them in entering the labour market and developing their skills – including language learning – through webinars, training courses and educational materials available online, as well as a scholarship programme run by the Erste Foundation.

We provide financial education mainly having in mind children and young people (as well as their teachers and parents), for example through the ”Finansiaki” project implemented for several years.

Our activities are aimed at customers and the general public and are delivered via our online and mobile banking platforms, the bank’s website, and social media (the ‘Don’t Believe in Fairy Tales’ campaign), as well as in partnership with non-governmental organisations (the Erste Foundation’s ‘Hacks Against Cyberattacks’ grant programme).

We target these initiatives at people who are underbanked or otherwise at risk of financial exclusion. We offer them tailored financial services and access channels, including partner branches and ATMs in smaller towns, a bank account for children up to the age of 13, and the “Cashless Poland” programme. From 2025, we will also provide preferential financing to entrepreneurs in the SME sector who face difficulties in accessing finance, thanks to our cooperation with the EIB.

Community support, through the activities of the Erste Foundation. We focus primarily on local communities and people facing difficult life circumstances. These activities cover initiatives aimed at young people, social welfare, healthcare, environmental protection and humanitarian aid. Examples of projects include corporate volunteering, grant schemes (e.g. ‘Here I live, Here I make ECO changes’) and other charitable initiatives (e.g. ‘Club with a Heart’ which involves refurbishing and furnishing rooms in children’s hospitals).

For more information, visit our websites:

Erste Education

Erste Foundation

Making a difference to communities through our Customers

Our Group has an indirect impact on communities through the activities of our business clients, who use our services, including financing.

We provide financing for social purposes in accordance with the criteria of our internal Sustainable Finance and Investment Classification System (SFICS). In the social sector, this covers areas of activity such as: education, healthcare, affordable housing, transport (including public transport and transport infrastructure), water and sanitation services, and telecommunications infrastructure. Financing granted in 2025 primarily concerned the development of healthcare and educational facilities.

We also provide financing that has a positive impact on communities in partnership with public institutions. Among other things, we have signed an agreement with the European Investment Bank Group, under which the bank and Erste Leasing provide financing to support two objectives:

business development for SMEs that may find it difficult to obtain credit (thereby reducing the risk of their financial exclusion),
development of women’s entrepreneurship through the financing of small, medium-sized and large businesses owned by women, managed by women or supporting women’s professional development.

To minimise the potential negative indirect impact on communities, we implement risk management measures in three main areas:

Impact on communities resulting from the investment projects we finance.
At the bank, we carry out a comprehensive environmental and social risk assessment for major investment projects that meet specific criteria regarding project cost, phase and type of financing. We require our clients to provide the documents necessary to conduct due diligence, including in relation to human rights. Our clients are expected to inform the local community about the potential adverse impacts of the project and the options for mitigating these impacts, to make documentation available for review, to establish a complaints mechanism, and to conduct a process of informed public consultation before construction begins. Where significant potential risks are identified, our clients manage them by implementing an Environmental & Social Action Plan (ESAP).
Impact on communities arising from the activities of our business clients which we manage with a view to environmental and social risks.
In the case of selected large corporate clients, we verify whether they have appropriate procedures in place to prevent adverse impacts on communities. Through media monitoring, we assess whether they actually implement the provisions of their policies in practice. We carry out environmental and social risk assessments before granting financing to new clients, and then monitor existing clients on a regular basis. When we identify negative impacts on stakeholders, we engage in dialogue with the client to propose mitigation measures where necessary. This information forms part of the credit process. We tailor the risk analysis process to the size of the client.
Impact on communities arising from the activities of our business clients which we manage with a view to reputational risk.
We monitor the activities of our business clients and the associated reputational risk to our Group. Among other things, we monitor media coverage in order to check whether a company or investment project is causing controversy within the local community. Such cases are assessed by the reputational risk unit. A negative opinion:
- may result in refusal to do business with the client,
- in the case of a loan application, the assessment is taken into account by the relevant credit committee when making its decision.

The reputational risk unit also carries out regular monitoring of customers. This applies to cases where, following a positive assessment subject to additional conditions, a business unit of the bank is required, for example, to obtain the customer’s position on a given matter, obtain additional documents or monitor the media.