«I am proud to work for a company that meets an important social need and lays an important foundation for social development with the insurance principle.»
As a company, we see ourselves as part of a sustainable society and conduct our business activities in compliance with the relevant legal provisions. We make a significant contribution to the protection of society by, among other things, protecting our customers from financial losses in an emergency and providing security. We fulfil our mission in the community by sharing risks and costs, and by being forward-looking and innovative in the way we do business
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an important part of our social commitment. We actively encourage volunteering by our employees and also support various projects, initiatives and activities that we feel require support. All national subsidiaries of Baloise have agreed on a common Corporate Social Responsibility Charter (PDF, 55 KB) in 2021. This charter enshrines the values and priorities of CSR. It is up to the national subsidiaries to choose the projects in which they participate under the Baloise CSR Charter. Our commitment can be divided into the following areas: Community and good causes, Environmental and climate protection, Health, Education and research, Innovation and safety.
We also believe that culture makes life more interesting. As such, the companies of the Baloise Group have a tradition of active involvement in cultural and sporting life. They support a number of institutions and events which form an established part of social life in their region.
- Community and good causes: We provide financial support and volunteer work for organisations that aid the common good and help people in need.
- Environmental and Climate Protection: We provide funding and volunteer work to organisations who strive to protect our environment and climate.
- Health: We provide research funding in various areas of health and support organisations dedicated to improving the well-being of sick people and supporting general health.
- Education and Research: We see education and research as key parts of sustainable development. That is why we provide financial support and volunteer work to various projects, including those covering political education for youngsters.
- Innovation and Safety: We support organisations and initiatives dedicated to developing innovative technologies, products and services. These can be related to a range of areas, such as road safety or digitalisation.
- Art and culture: With the Baloise Art Prize and our art collection, we support young talent and access to culture. All information about our commitment to art and the Baloise Art Prize as well as our interactive art collection can be found online at www.art.baloise.com. In Belgium, we support the Noordstarfonds, which encourages cultural exchange in the community. We are also the main sponsor of the Rockhal, the largest concert hall in Luxembourg. In Basel, Baloise has been the title sponsor of the Baloise Session, the successful Basel music festival, since 2013.
- Sports: When it comes to sports, we have been supporting the traditional Swiss football club FC Basel for several years. In Belgium, Baloise supports various cycling-related activities: in addition to supporting the Team Flanders–Baloise and Baloise Trek Lions teams for young athletes, we sponsor the Baloise Belgium Tour. We also sponsor the Belgian football teams KAA Gent and Standard de Liège. In Luxembourg, too, we sponsor cycling together with the organisers of the Škoda Tour de Luxembourg and triathlon through our support of the FLTRI (Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Triathlon).
In addition to environmental criteria, Baloise Asset Management also takes into account aspects of ethically correct business management and social criteria as part of its responsible investment policy, which applies to insurance funds as well as third-party customer funds. We expanded and enhanced our responsible investment policy again in 2021. All companies with an environmental, social and governance (ESG) rating lower than B (according to data from the provider MSCI Ltd) are excluded on the basis of our integration of ESG factors into the investment process. This means that we also explicitly take social issues into account in our investments.
Through our Active Ownership Strategy regarding our investments, we engage in active dialogue with companies on environmental issues, social concerns and corporate governance. These collaborative discussions focus on such topics as human rights, working conditions and diversity.
Activities and focus
Baloise has an extensive network of cooperation partners. Its relationship with innovation partners, start-ups, outsourcing partners, suppliers, brokers and intermediaries creates a network that results in synergy potential and knowledge transfer, holding the promise of success for both sides.
We are working with various partners as part of our strategy. In addition to its partnerships in Switzerland, which focus largely on innovation, Baloise’s partnerships in Germany and Belgium are primarily with intermediaries and brokers. In Luxembourg, Baloise has been collaborating with the Etika association since 2020, the aim being to incorporate sustainability into various business sectors. As part of this partnership, there are plans to launch insurance products that take account of social, environmental and governance-related aspects of sustainability. The partners are also working to develop and implement various campaigns to raise awareness.
Vendor Code of Conduct
In order to ensure that our suppliers and outsourcing partners also comply with our sustainability principles, our partners’ acceptance of our Vendor Code of Conduct is a firm component of our processes. The Vendor Code of Conduct includes regulations on aspects such as conflicts of interest, benefits, environmental aspects, procurement ethics, freedom of association, child labour, human rights, health and safety and discrimination, as well as the procedure for reporting breaches.
Innovations in sustainability in the spirit of partnership
Investments, partnerships and collaborations allow us to join forces to offer innovative products and services in the area of sustainability. This allows us to promote a society focused on the long term and sustainability. Through collaboration with our partners, we ensure competitiveness as well as increasing the capacity for innovation and future growth for Baloise and our partners. We also accelerate our innovation speed by shortening product development times.
Please see our CSR-Charta (PDF, 103 KB) for further information on our CSR-activities.