The Media and Banking Awareness Committee of Saudi banks announced that the total investments and contributions of Saudi banks within their commitment to their social responsibility in the economic, educational, health and other fields amounted to more than 417 million riyals during the year 2022, which contributed directly and indirectly to achieving a positive impact, thanks to the systematic and clear plans included. It focuses on the concept of sustainability in its three dimensions: social, environmental and economic.
The report issued by the Saudi Banks Committee recently showed that the areas of those contributions covered several sectors, including: health, education, environment, community service and charitable support, financial culture, and contribution to economic development and entrepreneurship and support for small and medium enterprises and what falls under it, except The education and health sectors accounted for a large share of these contributions.
The number of beneficiaries of these social contributions of Saudi banks reached about 4 and a half million beneficiaries at the level of the regions, governorates and cities of the Kingdom. In various projects during the year 2022.
The nature of the social responsibility projects adopted and implemented by Saudi banks during that period reflected a systematic and clear focus on sustainability and innovation, enhancing transparency and governance, and defining clear indicators of measurement and performance, which would enhance the role and performance of banks, whether in terms of developing their banking experience or expanding their activities and initiatives.
These projects, with their various fields and contributions, are accompanied by several activities that reflect positively on society, the economy, the environment, customers, employees, and stakeholders, as well as supporting the government’s role in providing services to society, financing development projects of all kinds, and enhancing the level of social solidarity, in a way that contributes to achieving the aspirations of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, and meeting Objectives of the financial sector development program.
In addition, several studies confirm the existence of a clear positive relationship between the social responsibility of Saudi banks and their financial performance, whether in terms of return on assets or return on equity, indicating that customers respond more actively to banks that play an influential role in corporate social responsibility projects and programs.
It is noteworthy that one of those studies, titled “The Impact of Social Responsibility on the Financial Performance of the Banking Sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” calls for work to increase social awareness of social responsibility in a way that benefits banks, their customers, their local community, and their financial performance.
Okaz (Jeddah)