2020 Universal registration document and annual financial report - BNP PARIBAS588

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a Committed Bank: information ConCerninG the eConomiC, soCial, CiviC and environmental resPonsiBility of BnP PariBas Our civic responsibility: being a positive agent for change

More than 30 years of involvement in microfinance

In 1989, the Group launched its first microfinance partnership by financing Crédit Rural de Guinée. Thirty-one years later, this client is still financed by the Group. The digital exhibition Little Big Movement(1), which illustrates the impact of microcredit on women entrepreneurs, aims to celebrate and raise awareness of this commitment.

The Group was also involved in major events and helped to define microfinance best practices, in particular through:

■ the subscription and deployment of the new Atlas reporting tool developed by MFR(2), a rating company specialising in microfinance. This tool reduces the reporting time for MFIs, standardises indicators and offers comparative analyses to all players in the sector;

■ active participation in the working groups formed to provide joint responses to the financial crisis affecting the sector. Internal guidelines have been developed to support MFIs throughout the crisis, drawing on the most responsible practices adopted by its main players.

Green microfinance, joining the dots between environmental & social issues

The AgriFed programme empowerment of women farmers in Senegal (see Supporting our clients in the transition to a low-carbon economy, Commitment 10) is a good illustration of the interdependence between these two topics, onto which issues of access to finance and food sovereignty are also grafted. As such, the Group has integrated Baobab Senegal, a key local microfinance institution, into the programme by granting funding specifically targeting women beneficiaries of the project.

BNP Paribas also helped to highlight issues related to biodiversity within the MEbA project(2) (Microfinance Ecosystem-based Adaptation) of the United Nations Environment (see Supporting our customers in the transition to a low-carbon economy, Commitment 10).

PROVIDING ASSISTANCE TO VULNERABLE CUSTOMERS BNP Paribas makes every effort to pay particular attention to customers in vulnerable situations and to facilitate their access to banking services.

Customers with disabilities or vulnerabilities

The Bank has introduced systems for customers with disabilities or reduced mobility by promoting better accessibility to its products or services.

For example in Poland, BNP Paribas Bank Polska launched in 2020 a sign language translation service, accessible online and in branches. The Bank now has fifty Obiekt bez barier certified branches in Poland. This State certificate authenticates that all these branches may be accessible to anyone with a disability (blind or low vision, reduced mobility, deafness,

etc.); it also indicates accessibility for the elderly as well as those accompanied by young children.

In addition, TEB, the retail bank in Turkey, also leads several initiatives to facilitate access for people with disabilities: for example, some branches and ATMs are wheelchair accessible and have drop-down menus to guide customers.

BNP Paribas Cardif, leads many initiatives around disability, including the signing in 2020 of an agreement with the Île-de-France Region whose objective is to facilitate access to housing as part of the existing AERAS system (Ensuring and Borrowing with an Increased Health Risk). BNP Paribas Cardif has undertaken, alongside eight other banks and insurers, to support the Region in its project by informing its beneficiary customers and then taking full responsibility for the management of the system, at no additional cost to either the Region or to the customers.

This desire for accessibility goes well beyond French borders: in the Czech Republic for example, BNP Paribas Cardif was a pioneer, offering coverage intended to protect carers against the life hazards, which support a loved one with a loss of autonomy or a disability. In 2020, this coverage was adapted to allow some parents to keep their children at home during the pandemic.

Today, digital services and robotics offer the possibility of proposing more inclusive services. BNP Paribas Cardif supports this idea in two ways. On the one hand, as an insurer, simplifying medical formalities and on the other hand, as an innovator, relying on Tangata, a platform created by the Group, which lists more than 3,000 services and leisure activities accessible to people with disabilities and their caregivers. (see also A learning company offering dynamic professional path management, Commitment 6).

Customers experiencing financial difficulties and the access to credit facilities

The Group is committed to ensure easier access to credit, but also to the prevention of over-indebtedness. The role of a committed bank is to support its customers at all times, including during major disruption. It is in this spirit that French Retail Banking has developed, with several members of Companies for a More Inclusive Economy association, the AXELLE platform, accessible on the Group s website, Ma Banque , for customers in difficulty: after signing up to the platform, customers can access inclusive offers on essential products and services to reduce their spending constraints and help with their job search.

For example, Orange offers the Coup de pouce for privileged access to telephony, Danone offers vouchers for basic necessities to parents of children under the age of three, Renault through its Mobilize programme provides its car repair network at cost price, Veolia grants benefits with the Chèque Eau ( water check ), etc. This offer targets the 230,000 customers identified as financially vulnerable by the French Retail Bank.

(1) https://group.bnpparibas/en/microfinance30years

(2) https://www.atlasdata.org/about-us

(3) https://unepmeba.org/biodiversity-platform/