Under the auspices of H.E Minister of Environment Mr. Nazem Khoury and in the presence of a large number of dignitaries, journalists and activists in the field of environment and social work, BLC Bank held a press conference on the twenty first of February at Phoenicia Hotel-Beirut addressing the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of the Bank towards the environment and the community.
The General Manager of BLC Bank Mr. Raoul Nehme stressed in this conference on the importance of CSR representing one of the bank's main core values and shed light on its latest achievement in this field, where BLC Bank's headquarters was awarded a bronze certificate by Lebanon Green Building Council (LGBC) thus becoming the first building in Lebanon to be categorized as "environmentally friendly".
This achievement is the result of the collaboration between the bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) where a green retrofit action plan was adopted with the aim of creating a comfortable environment suitable for work while managing the consumption of energy and water that does not exceed the effective needs as well as significantly reducing the negative effects on the natural environment.
It is noteworthy that the Bank management has defined high-level environmental standards for all the bank's existing and new branches.
Furthermore, Mr. Nehme said: "This step is one of many steps and activities undertaken by the bank to serve the community, contribute to its development and participate in its environmental and social activities such as forestation, health activities, education and awareness campaigns.
He added: "We, at BLC Bank, believe that our role is to go beyond the financial and social aspects we professionally deal with. CSR is one of our main values and we are keen to play our social role and spread the CSR culture among all the Bank stakeholders namely employees, shareholders, suppliers and clients.
On another level, BLC Bank, always within the frame of CSR, successfully completed its campaign on the public voting via Facebook aiming at involving the Bank's staff and the public at large in voting on the distribution of fifty five thousand USD for the benefit of non-profit humanitarian organizations active in the medical and social fields.
According to the outcome of the extensive voting, Sesobel who is an association serving children with special physical and mental needs received the highest number of votes and was therefore granted the first prize of twenty five thousand USD, followed by Heart Beat, a charitable association treating children with heart anomalies that received the second prize of fifteen thousand USD. In the third rank came the Children Cancer Center in Lebanon (CCCL), a charitable association treating children with cancer that received ten thousand USD followed by Oum El Nour, a humanitarian association specialized treatment of drug and alcohol addiction granted five thousand USD.
Finally, BLC Bank took upon itself to continue its work in this field throughout 2012 and beyond by supporting many sustainable development projects and programs, as well as non-profit social, humanitarian and environmental organizations.
© Press Release 2012
