COLUMBUS, Ohio, Aug. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Huntington
Bancshares Incorporated (Nasdaq: HBAN) has issued its 2020
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report, which
highlights how Huntington helps people reach their goals, provides
businesses with the resources to grow, and works to create
prosperous and resilient communities.
The report shines a light on Huntington's 2020 commitments to
shareholders, customers, colleagues, and communities, especially
during a year of social and racial unrest, economic uncertainty and
climate-related disruption.
"We're pleased to share how we're serving all of our
stakeholders after a year of enormous challenges across the globe,"
said Steve Steinour, chairman,
president and CEO. "Our purpose of making people's lives better,
helping businesses thrive and strengthening the communities we
serve continues to guide us in all we do. Stories about how our
colleagues live our purpose every day are woven throughout the ESG
report. This is especially meaningful as we examine our performance
as a company and our larger role to be a catalyst for progress on
economic and environmental sustainability, as well as social
equity."
The ESG report provides a comprehensive review of Huntington's
progress on performance dimensions that drive sustainable,
long-term value for investors and support economic empowerment for
customers and communities. Progress includes:
- Increased spending with diverse suppliers to $161.1 million, accounting for 26.6% of total
spending, supporting more than 2,350 jobs and representing
$125 million in supported wages.
- Implemented a bank-wide minimum wage increase from $16 per hour to $17
per hour, and has a strong, ongoing focus on colleague engagement,
development, retention, and attraction.
- Delivered positive operating leverage for the eighth
consecutive year, earned a 9% return on tangible common equity, and
increased the cash dividends paid to our shareholders for the tenth
consecutive year.
Reporting Includes First-Time SASB Index and Second Annual
TCFD Disclosure
Huntington's commitment to strong corporate
governance is also reflected in its efforts to continually improve
ESG reporting. This is Huntington's fifth ESG report, along with
first-time reporting to the Sustainability Accounting Standards
Board (SASB) standards for Commercial Banks and Consumer Finance,
and second annual reporting to the Task Force on Climate-related
Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework.
Additional 2020 areas of focus that enabled Huntington's
response on behalf of its stakeholders include:
- Investing in Communities and Driving Economic Impact:
Huntington's commitments to financial education, to serving the
underbanked, and economic inclusion programs provide a platform to
help reduce poverty and drive economic empowerment for all.
-
- Completed the $16.1 billion
community development plan a year ahead of schedule and announced a
new $40 billion Community Plan to
address economic, social, environmental and racial equity
challenges.
- Provided $984 million in
community development loans and investments.
- Located 23.5% of branches in low-to-moderate income
neighborhoods.
- Assisted nearly 3,600 mortgage-distressed customers through the
Home Savers program.
- Partnered with more than 100 organizations to help address food
security and other social determinants of health.
- Provided more than 38,000 customers with relief, including loan
deferrals and modifications, resulting in more than $6.8 billion of forbearance relief.
- Helping Small Business Thrive: As the No. 1 originator
of SBA 7(a) loans by volume in its footprint for twelve consecutive
years, Huntington leveraged its expertise to develop creative,
inclusive lending options and a variety of other features to assist
with the recovery across the Midwest.
-
- Funded approximately 84,000 loans to small- and medium-sized
businesses, helping to keep thousands of people employed, totaling
nearly $11.2 billion through the
federal Paycheck Protection Program.
- Launched Huntington Lift Local Business, a small business
program that provides greater access to credit, business planning
services, and educational resources, with a focus on minority-,
woman-, and veteran-owned businesses.
- Started 24-Hour Grace for Business, which gives additional time
to cover overdrafts and returns on checking accounts. Huntington
will automatically waive the overdraft fee as long as the customer
makes a deposit during the next business day to resolve the
overdraft or pending return item.
- Building a Diverse Workforce and Governance Structure:
Huntington is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and
inclusion in its workforce, as well as to doing business with a
diverse supplier base.
-
- 38% board diversity
- 66% total workforce diversity, and 45% diversity in middle and
executive management
- Average base pay for women colleagues with the same job titles
as men was 98% of that paid to men, and the average base pay for
minority colleagues with the same job titles as non-minority
colleagues was 99% of that paid to non-minorities.
- 27% spend with diverse-owned companies
- Promoting Environmental Stewardship: Huntington
acknowledges that climate change is a serious issue and is
committed to doing more to accelerate meaningful progress by
reducing its corporate carbon footprint and addressing the
environmental challenges faced by under-resourced communities.
-
- Reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 35% since 2017
benchmark.
- Established a renewable energy goal to shift 50% of its
electricity usage to renewable sources by 2035.
- Implemented 284 environmental sustainability projects.
- Achieved 75 new ENERGY STAR certifications.
- Provided comprehensive, customized solutions for businesses
innovating in the green technology market.
- Established climate risk governance and reporting structure,
including the formation of a Climate Risk Management Working
Group.
"Huntington is driven by its purpose and guided into action
through its core values to be a top-tier performing bank that
creates long-term value for its stakeholders," said Dave Porteous, Lead Director, Huntington Board
of Directors. "ESG priorities play an important role at Huntington
and across our industry. We're confident our enhanced strategy and
ESG reporting transparency will further our brand and helps us
stand out to our shareholders, customers, colleagues and
communities. This report illustrates Huntington's belief that doing
good is good for business."
About Huntington
Huntington Bancshares Incorporated
is a $175 billion asset regional bank
holding company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 1866, The
Huntington National Bank and its affiliates provide consumers,
small and middle–market businesses, corporations, municipalities,
and other organizations with a comprehensive suite of banking,
payments, wealth management, and risk management products and
services. Huntington operates more than 1,200 branches in 12
states, with certain businesses operating in extended
geographies. Visit Huntington.com for more information.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements,
including, but not limited to, certain plans, expectations, goals,
projections, and statements, which are not historical facts and are
subject to numerous assumptions, risks, and uncertainties.
Statements that do not describe historical or current facts,
including statements about beliefs and expectations, are
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may be
identified by words such as expect, anticipate, believe, intend,
estimate, plan, target, goal, or similar expressions, or future or
conditional verbs such as will, may, might, should, would, could,
or similar variations. The forward-looking statements are intended
to be subject to the safe harbor provided by Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995.
All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they
are made and are based on information available at that time. We do
not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements to
reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the
forward-looking statements were made or to reflect the occurrence
of unanticipated events except as required by federal securities
laws. As forward-looking statements involve significant risks and
uncertainties, caution should be exercised against placing undue
reliance on such statements. Please carefully review and consider
the various disclosures made in this document and in our other
reports filed with the SEC for more information about the risks and
other factors that may affect our business, results of operations,
financial condition or prospects.
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SOURCE Huntington Bancshares Inc.