CAIXA ECONÔMICA FEDERAL

Founded by Emperor Dom Pedro II in 1861 as a bank to encourage savings by the population, CAIXA has grown into a public institution for stimulating Brazil’s development with the mission of promoting Brazilian population’s well-being.

CAIXA’s role is decisive for urban development and democratic access to full citizenship, directly contributing to improve people’s lives through its constant involvement in sectors such as housing, sanitation, infrastructure and financial services.

The company provides basic banking services and implements and follows through on federal government initiatives in housing finance, urban development, commercial lending, investment fund management, and the handling of social programs and income transfers.

CAIXA is also responsible for the management of labor benefits such as the Employee Severance Indemnity Fund, Social Integration Program and unemployment benefits. The company also manages government funds and programs such as the Wage Variation Compensation Fund, Residential Leasing Fund, Supportive Lending Program, Student Financing Program, Social Development Fund and National Fund for Social Interest Housing, plus housing insurance for the National Housing Finance Scheme.

CAIXA oversees the federal lottery program, which provides resources for activities and programs fostering citizenship. The company also participates in people’s everyday lives promoting artistic, cultural, educational and sporting activities through its sponsorship policy.

Based in Brasília, the financial institution is under aegis of the Ministry of Finance. It is part of the Brazilian National Financial System and assists with the federal government’s credit policy, subject to the decisions and regulations of the competent body and supervision by the Brazilian Central Bank and the Federal Audit Court.

Of the 62,000 CAIXA service points, 3,500 are branches and banking service outlets, and 33,600 are national lottery outlets and CAIXA Aqui outlets. The rest of the network comprises 24,900 terminals installed in ATM posts and halls.

In addition to this infrastructure, CAIXA offers services through its mobile units: 18 truck-based branches and 117 units until 2015. Chico Mendes and Ilha de Marajó riverboat branches travel the Amazon region’s to serve less accessible municipalities in sparsely populated and economically disadvantaged areas.

More information: www.caixa.gov.br.

ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE

Committed to social-environmental issues since 2005, CAIXA adhered to the Green Protocol, an agreement between the Ministry of the Environment and state-owned financial institutions, aimed at defining innovative model banking policies and practices of social-environmental responsibility.

Institutionally, CAIXA has adopted a series of initiatives that keep it updated with the best global social-environmental responsibility practices. The bank adhered to the Global Compact in 2003 and, in 2009, it became the first financial institution in the Americas to embrace the Business and Biodiversity Initiative – a movement to stimulate the business sector to adopt management systems designed to protect biodiversity.

CAIXA signed up to the Equator Principles in 2009, thereby accepting the social-environmental standards of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), private arm of the World Bank, for the analysis of social-environmental responsibility parameters in all project finance operations involving more than US$ 10 million.

Having made a commitment to the National Policy on Climate Change (PNMC), CAIXA is also implementing a series of measures to combat or mitigate Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, such as the financing of environmental sanitation and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects, as well as the adhesion to the GHG Protocol, developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI).

CAIXA believes that the future of financial activities is based on the need to reconcile profitability with environmental sustainability. The bank’s principles aim to promote regional sustainable development, with the interests of both current and future generations at heart. Its Corporate Environmental Policy thus includes the following guidelines:

• Financing development geared to sustainability.
• Considering social-environmental impacts and costs when extending credit.
• Promoting the sustainable consumption of natural resources, and materials derived from them, in all internal processes.
• Continuously informing, promoting awareness and engaging stakeholders in CAIXA’s sustainability policies and practices.
• Promoting the sustainable development of cities.

The continued efforts to satisfactorily comply with these guidelines have already had an effect. A survey carried out by Adbank in 2012 showed a significant increase in the number of Brazilians who consider CAIXA the bank that has contributed the most to environmental preservation. The bank is at the top of the 2012 ranking of the Brazil’s five largest financial institutions.

Corporate Environmental Policy Milestones

2004/05: Corporate Environmental Policy approved and Committee established.

2007: Social-environmental Responsibility, Sustainable Development and Environment departments created. Lending Policy reviewed, setting out principles, guidelines and standards to ensure economic, financial, social and environmental sustainability of lending operations.

2008: Corporate Social Responsibility Committee established.

2009: Commitment to the Equator Principles.

2010: Selo Casa Azul guide launched. Social-Environmental Fund (FSA) set up.

2011/12: Tendering carried out under the FSA.

2012: Commitment to the Natural Capital Declaration (first major Brazilian bank to join).

2013: GHG Protocol adhesion.