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SOCIETY

CASE STUDY INDEX

Ideas for Life, Skandia Nordic
The Ideas for Life Mutual Fund is a non-for-profit mutual fund available within the Skandia mutual fund offerings.

Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and the Affinity Programme, Nedbank South Africa
Nedbank offers customers the opportunity to contribute to Nelson Mandela Children's Fund at no cost to them through the Affinity Programme.

Personal Economics Programme, Old Mutual plc
Old Mutual plc is supporting financial capabilities and literacy among young people through its work with a London based charity Young Enterprise London.

Old Mutual funds a PhD at Imperial College
At the core of Old Mutual's approach to business is our belief that everything we do needs to lead to long-term sustainable growth.

• Introduction
• Responsible Investment
• Human Rights
• Community Investment

Introduction

At Old Mutual we understand that a healthy business requires a healthy society, which is exactly why we strive to ensure the impact we have on society is positive. We do this by not only ensuring our core business is conducted in a responsible way, but also by taking account of many of the wider impacts that we have as an organisation.

As part of this we have a set of commitments to society that are part of our Responsible Business Policy. Wherever they operate, business units must:

• Promote in the communities that they serve:
  • financial education and other appropriate education programmes
  • financial inclusion
  • economic development and
  • health (where appropriate)
• Consider social impacts as part of our investment decision process where practical

Making responsible investment decisions

We are aware that our investments can have a huge consequence for society, both directly (e.g. through financing a project in a community) and indirectly (e.g. through trading shares in a company whose activities subsequently impact on a community). Maximising positive impacts and minimising negative ones, while still ensuring a good return to our customers, is a constant but necessary balancing act.

Our approach to managing investments is to abide by client mandates, where applicable, and to aim to give the best returns possible. All our funds are managed in a transparent way and clients receive information about how they are invested.

Old Mutual Investment Statement

Old Mutual recognises that being a good corporate citizen is important in developing a sustainable business and achieving long-term success.

Old Mutual has a duty to generate returns for its shareholders, but is also aware that its investments may have an impact on the environment or on communities in which the businesses invest or operate.

In our life assurance and asset management businesses we therefore aim to offer, among the choices available to clients, products that are or have the ability to be tailored to an ethical perspective. We also ensure that our asset managers are aware of industry initiatives such as the Principles of Responsible Investment and the Equator Principles.

Our approach to managing investments is to abide by client mandates, where applicable, and to aim to give the best returns possible. All our funds are managed in a transparent way and clients receive information about how they are invested. We believe that this is the best way to enable investors to factor social and ethical factors into their investment decisions.

An important element of our approach is to help our customers make responsible investment decisions, too. In our life assurance and asset management businesses we aim to offer, among the choices available to clients, products that are or have the ability to be tailored to an ethical perspective. We also ensure that our asset managers are aware of industry initiatives such as the Principles of Responsible Investment and the Equator Principles. Through Skandia UK, for example, we offer our customers a choice of more than 25 ethical and environmental funds.

Ideas for Life, Skandia Nordic

The Ideas for Life Mutual Fund is a non-for-profit mutual fund available within the Skandia mutual fund offerings. It is available for our customers either directly or through unit-linked products. When a customer selects this fund, 2% of the annual net asset value will go directly to the IFL Foundation.

The IFL Foundation aims to support kids and youths social development through a number of different activities and projects.

Human Rights

We are committed to observing proper practices in the area of human rights and became a signatory to the UNGC (United Nations Global Compact) during 2007. The UNGC is a framework of ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and the prevention of corruption. We support these principles and aim to implement them throughout our business activities.

Our commitment to the UNGC sits alongside the existing FTSE4Good Index framework that features on the CR strategy.  Old Mutual plc is a member of the FTSE4Good Index and is listed on the JSE Index the selection criteria for which include upholding and supporting universal human rights.

We deal with any suspected breach of human rights through the appropriate HR and Risk functions. If necessary the breach of policy would be escalated to the appropriate local Audit and Risk Committees that are in place around the Group, with escalation to the Group Audit and Risk Committee where warranted.

Promoting financial education and inclusion

Access to basic financial products and advice is essential for people to function fully in society. But it is just as important for people to understand these products, and how they can be used beneficially. We run education and awareness projects in communities across The Group that give the general consumer public enough knowledge and skills to make sound financial decisions. For example, in South Africa, Mutual & Federal have been reaching people through labour and community organisations and equipping teachers to run the financial literacy classes that are part of the Maths Literacy curriculum. They have also been using digital advertising at taxi ranks, bus stops and train stations to engage people every day.

Supporting development in our communities

We support a wide range of community projects across the world including education, health and welfare, local economic development, the environment and the arts. Our social investment programmes operate principally in the countries where our businesses are located, working with selected charities and other organisations to benefit causes supported by the Group.

In South Africa for example we work to create opportunities for integrating marginalised South Africans in the mainstream economy through The Old Mutual (South Africa) Foundation. This is done through a number of initiative such as enterprise development, skills capacity building, education and staff volunteerism.

In 2008, in total we put £7,717,102 into our local communities. For details of the activities, from across the Group, that made this contribution see the Society section of our 2008 Annual Report.

Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and the Affinity Programme, Nedbank South Africa

Nedbank offers customers the opportunity to contribute to Nelson Mandela Children's Fund at no cost to them through the Affinity Programme. Every time a customer uses a Nedbank Affinity banking product, a donation is made on their behalf. Customers do not pay a premium and service fees for Nedbank Children's Affinity accounts are the same as those for normal Nedbank banking accounts. Rather the Nedbank Children's Affinity donates money on behalf of its customer based on the customer's financial activity.

Personal Economics Programme, Old Mutual plc

Old Mutual plc is supporting financial capabilities and literacy among young people through its work with a London based charity Young Enterprise London. The programme enables volunteers from Old Mutual to deliver a full day programme of classes to secondary school students that will have a lasting effect of their financial capability. The training provides understanding of personal finance, credit & debit, savings and investments and budgets. Moria Sullivan, teacher at St Gregory's RC High School, strongly agreed that after participating in the programme, students had a better understanding of the need for financial planning for a financially secure future. She said, "This was a very positive experience for students and the quality of the resources were excellent."

Old Mutual funds a PhD at Imperial College

At the core of Old Mutual's approach to business is our belief that everything we do needs to lead to long-term sustainable growth. With the immediate pressure on the environment we are pleased to be able to support a PhD student at Imperial College, whose thesis is focused on investigating the affect of climate change on species distribution.  We are hoping that this work will have a positive effect in the ongoing battle against climate change.