This Policy applies to Bank of Ayudhya Public Company Limited (“the Bank”) and the companies under the Bank’s financial business group where the Bank holds more than 50% shares, directly or indirectly, or the Bank has a substantial control (“Subsidiaries”). Subsidiaries shall acknowledge this Policy, and either approve this Policy as their own Policy or use this Policy as a guideline to establish an equivalent policy to comply with this Policy.
In addition, this Policy is applicable to all stakeholders and rights holders in the value chain, which include all employees, suppliers, contractors, business partners, customers, communities, and covers groups at risk and vulnerable groups such as women, pregnant women, young children, people with diverse sexual orientation and gender identities , elderly, people with disabilities, migrant workers, third-parties’ employees, indigenous people, and local communities that may be affected by the Bank’s business operations and associated activities including other business relations such as joint ventures, mergers and new acquisitions.
Basic framework for human rights
Krungsri Group adheres to and places importance on the protection of and respect for human rights as well as labor practices of all employees and stakeholder groups, taking into account individual equality and non-discrimination, while focusing on appropriate human rights management in compliance with international regulatory requirements and principles regarding labor and human rights, e.g., Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work adopted by International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP), United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), etc., in order to prevent and avoid actions that may violate human rights. These actions could result from the Bank’s business operations or business activities of related stakeholders, such as customers, suppliers, business partners, etc. The Bank has established the guideline to collaborate with the aforementioned stakeholders in alignment with the human rights commitments and principles as outlined in this Policy.
The Policy demonstrates our commitment to restraining all forms of human trafficking activities and the use of forced and child labor in the Bank’s entire value chain, in respecting human rights, while also promoting the freedom of association, the right to engage in collective bargaining, equal remuneration, digital security and privacy, health, and safety. This Policy also commits to zero tolerance against all forms of discriminatory action and harassment (i.e., sexual, and non-sexual harassment) and refraining from using security forces with any forms of human rights abuse or violation.
The practice guideline in alignment with the Policy is as follows:
- Ensure treatment of all stakeholder groups in accordance with international and local laws, rules, and regulations related to human rights.
- Refrain from any actions that violate human rights through Human Rights Due Diligence with a systematic periodic review of potential human rights risk issues and human rights risk management.
- Support and encourage the protection of and respect for human rights through communication and dissemination of knowledge, and stipulate guidelines for monitoring and providing support to stakeholders in the business value chain
- Monitor human rights performance regularly to ensure the effectiveness of the existing control, mitigation, and preventive measures.
- Provide the whistleblowing process and the grievance mechanism, to which all relevant stakeholders and affected rights holders can access in order to report human rights violations.
1. Guidelines for treatment of stakeholders
Krungsri Group commits to establishing the basic framework for human rights that covers all stakeholder groups, while also consulting about and communicating this basic framework for human rights to all stakeholder groups to promote respect for human rights among them.
Employees
- Committed to complying with all laws pertaining to fair treatment of employees, fair employment, and respect for human rights, e.g., freedom of association, privacy, working hours, equal remuneration, employment discrimination, while not accepting and tolerating sexual and non-sexual harassment, abuse of power through coercion and threats, human trafficking, forced labor, and child labor.
- Prohibit any forms of discrimination regarding race, nationality, color, religion, national origin, gender (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, age, disability, etc. to support and promote diversity and embrace differences with equality.
- Provide a work environment free of harassment, bullying, and other immoral behavior, both physical and verbal, which could cause the victim to be offended.
- Respect employees’ rights and privacy, while instilling and promoting the spirit of respect for others’ rights
- Promote and give opportunities to employees for freedom of association and collective bargaining for employees’ best interest in compliance with related laws
Customers
- Ensure that the Bank and subsidiaries business activities across the entire value chain do not have adverse effects on customers, and that their rights are not violated. In case of any negative impacts regarding human rights, the Bank and subsidiaries will implement appropriate remediation actions to address the impacts on all affected customers.
- Treat customers fairly and equally regardless of gender, age, race, nationality, skin color, faith, religion, ethnic origin, social status, national origin, disability, etc.
- Comply with the market conduct guideline stipulated in accordance with regulatory requirements and the Bank’s internal regulations, covering processes related to the provision of products and services which must not violate customers’ privacy or abuse superior bargaining power to force customers to conduct transactions
- Protect and safeguard customers’ personal data while taking into account customers’ privacy and respect for human rights, including strict compliance with related regulatory requirements
- Add human rights as one of the credit underwriting criteria for the business sector as specified in the Policy for Credit Risk Management, wherein the Bank will not support transactions related to violations of human rights, child labor or illegal workers, community relations and community rights, etc.
Suppliers
- Support and encourage suppliers to comply with principles of human rights and labor practices as specified in the Bank’s Supplier Code of Conduct, while expecting suppliers to apply the principles to their business operations
- Stipulate a fair supplier selection process and offer equal opportunities to all suppliers, while setting human rights as one of the supplier selection criteria
- Protect suppliers’ personal data, avoid violating their personal data protection, and respect their human rights
- Ensure that the security personnel hired do not commit any forms of human rights violation
Business partners
- Set human rights as one of the criteria for jointly investing with the Bank’s business partners, e.g., business acquisition, joint venture, investment portfolio allocation, etc.
- Support and encourage business partners to comply with principles of human rights and labor practices.
Local communities
- Ensure that the Bank's business activities across the entire value chain do not have adverse effects on local communities, and that their rights are not violated. In case of any negative impacts, the Bank and subsidiaries will implement appropriate remediation actions to address the impacts on all affected communities.
2. Human rights due diligence
Krungsri Group has stipulated the complete human rights due diligence process as follows:
- Integrate human rights into the Bank’s risk assessment system, by periodically assessing actual or potential risks and impacts of human rights violations which could be caused by the Bank’s own operations in the entire value chain, or new business relations (mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, etc.)
- Integrate the Human Rights Policy into internal and external control mechanisms, e.g., stipulating impacted stakeholders, declaring human rights disclosure statement and policy by adding human rights to existing policies
- Plan and stipulate preventive measures and solutions to cope with human rights violations
- Provide relevant remedies and reparation as deemed appropriate by the Bank
- Monitor and report results to related executives and committees
3. Receiving complaints
Krungsri Group has established basic principles for whistleblowing pertaining to human rights and labor rights via the Bank’s whistleblowing channels by encouraging the reporting of staff’s or related parties’ actions that may violate human rights laws, policies, procedures. In addition, whistleblowers and related parties are protected accordingly. Related facts will be monitored and verified, while progress and results are reported to whistleblowers and related committees for acknowledgement.