Group chief executive's statement
Our global brand makes us more visible – and more accountable – to customers and shareholders
Andrew Moss
Group chief executive
Aviva is the world’s fifth largest* insurance group and operates in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Our main business activities are long-term savings, fund management and general insurance.
We are the largest insurance services provider in the UK and one of the leading providers of life and pension products in Europe. Our worldwide sales are £51,415 million and MCEV** operating profit before tax is £3,358 million.
As the global economy faces its toughest challenge in decades, so do many of the world’s best-known organisations. Customer confidence has taken a knock in the financial services sector along with share prices. While Aviva’s robust approach to risk management and financial planning means we are well placed to weather the economic storm, our approach to CR also sets us apart in terms of maintaining customer trust and setting new standards in global corporate citizenship.
Why? Because I believe that sustainability is becoming an increasingly important requirement – not just for a company’s customers but for its shareholders, suppliers and employees too. Indeed, we place sustainability at the heart of Aviva’s CR programme and our “one Aviva, twice the value” vision. As we meet the challenges of the global economic recession, we remain as firmly committed as ever to good business ethics and to targeting social and environmental issues affecting Aviva and our stakeholders.
Our 2008 performance is included in The Sustainability Yearbook 2009 and we achieved the SAM bronze class in 2008. We are ranked 45th out of the world’s 100 largest companies by AccountAbility and we continued to support the development of new sustainability measures being adopted by many organisations around the world. Our performance in battling climate change saw our CO2 emissions from energy consumption down by 6.6% this year, our water consumption down by 1% and paper use decrease by 14%. We also recycled 84% of our waste.
In the communities in which we operate we are involved in many projects and – despite the economic downturn – have increased our investment in initiatives that can make a difference. Very importantly, we are increasingly successful in enabling our employees to contribute to these efforts. Thanks largely to a corporate policy allowing time off to assist in the community, employee volunteering has almost doubled in the last two years. Our community investment strategy is closely aligned with our purpose of providing prosperity and peace of mind. Our approach continues to focus on addressing life trauma, furthering education and improving financial literacy among our customers and their communities.
To ensure we continue setting the pace, we need to attract and retain the right people who will become our leaders in the future. People want to be proud of where they work – not just in terms of benefits and salary but also in terms of corporate behaviour and reputation. Once again, our employees rated Aviva strongly as an employer of choice. Our global employee survey gives us feedback straight from our employees themselves every year and our 2008 results were even better than the excellent scores registered in the previous two years.
We have continued to pursue our diversity programmes and nearly a quarter of our senior management positions are now held by women. We also kept our position in the top 100 employers in Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index, being the only insurer included. The extension of the Aviva brand across our markets means we are more recognisable and easy to do business with. Our global brand also makes us more visible and more accountable – to customers, shareholders, suppliers and communities alike.
As we head into what is certain to be a challenging 2009, I am confident that our CR programmes will continue to help differentiate Aviva, particularly in terms of customer trust. I take pride in our standing as a responsible corporate citizen and look forward to continuing our journey of greater sustainability and more transparent accountability.
Andrew Moss
Group chief executive