From stage 2 to stage 4

We regard sustainable business practices as a decisive factor for our long-term corporate success. Therefore, in the summer of 2011, we were the first Austrian insurance company to firmly establish the concept of “value-based corporate management” as part of risk management at the Management Board level. But we also openly admit, that as far as sustainability is concerned, we have not yet reached the level that we would like to be at.

To UNIQA, sustainability means to accept responsibility on the basis of a clear, transparent governance system in three areas, i.e. the economy, society and the environment. In our opinion, there are four stages in the implementation of sustainability in the corporate strategy and the business model of a company (please also refer to the graph “The stages of sustainability”).

Stage 1: The purely commercial approach

The focus is on purely commercial goals. Ecological or social aspects are not taken into consideration.

Stage 2: Compliance

The company meets the minimum compliance criteria. In addition, it supports individual projects, but remains unstructured as far as the overall approach is concerned. Sustainability is still largely seen as a PR tool.

Stage 3: Risk and value management

Sustainability is intertwined with the corporate strategy and integrated in processes and systems. Responsibility and value management has been set up. Compliance regulations go beyond the minimum statutory requirements and are an important part of corporate culture. The issue of sustainability is pursued actively and in a structured way.

Stage 4: Strategic differentiation

Sustainability is fully integrated in the corporate strategy. Incentive systems and product innovation are consistently aligned with sustainability. New market segments are being developed. Until not long ago, UNIQA was in stage 2 – much like most of the companies in our sector. But in the meantime we have made progress, among other things by implementing value-based corporate management at board level in summer 2011 and by starting to set up the required infrastructure. We have not yet reached stage 3 – but we want to do so within the coming twelve months.

There are not many sectors where sustainability is clearly such an integral part of business as in the insurance sector. For 200 years, the most important task of UNIQA and its predecessors has been to give people security and to help them create a safe future for themselves. And this part is becoming ever more important: the demographic shifts in the highly developed, industrialised countries has caused a situation where the public pension and healthcare systems can no longer perform their tasks to the same extent that we have been used to for many decades. This is where we as an insurance company will have to help our customers. It is up to us to provide them with products and services that allow them to react to these developments and to ensure long-term coverage in this area. We invest lots of energy in achieving that status.

Helping sustainably

We have said it already: for us, sustainability is much more than ecological and social sponsoring. But both are important to us, and when we help, we help sustainably: UNIQA supports numerous initiatives in Austria and Central and Eastern Europe. Examples are Hilfswerk Austria, Light For The World, the Pink Ribbon Campaign, our sponsorship of the Austrian Integration Award, the sponsoring of mycentrope.com as well as a project that supports children in Montenegro. In addition, UNIQA promotes research and training by granting stipends.

The stages of sustainability

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