Annual Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Transparency Statement 2024
This Modern Slavery Transparency Statement has been approved by the Board of Qatar National Bank (Q.P.S.C.), in compliance with section 54 of the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the “Act”). Modern slavery comprises of slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour, and human trafficking. This statement sets out further information on how QNB addresses the risks of slavery and human trafficking in our business and supply chain.
Our Organisation and Supply Chain
QNB Group is an international financial institution incorporated and headquartered in Doha, Qatar. We have 30,000 employees across more than 28 countries and operate through branches, subsidiaries and representative offices, including a branch in London, UK.
Apart from QNB headquarters in Doha, we have a number of local suppliers provide goods and services in following areas:
- Professional advisory and consultancy services
- Recruitment and employment services
- Facilities management and building services
- Routine office supplies and services
- Employee benefit services
QNB’s Policy relating to slavery and human trafficking
QNB is committed to ensuring there is no slavery or human trafficking in any part of its business or supply chains. When hiring staff, we operate a robust recruitment process in accordance with UK employment laws and ensure that all prospective employees are legally entitled to work in the UK. We pay our staff appropriate market salaries and includes other benefits such as health and welfare options.
QNB is committed to an open culture and has whistleblowing and grievance procedures to encourage staff to report any knowledge or suspicion of criminal activity or other concerns, including those relating to slavery and human trafficking to the senior management team.
Additionally, our staff are required to adhere to QNB policies including:
- Anti-Bribery & Corruption Policy
- Human Capital Policy
- Code of Ethics
- Group Procurement and Supplier Management Policy
- Whistleblowing Policy
Due Diligence Process
We recognise our responsibility to ensure that we partner with suppliers, customers and organisations whose ethical principles align with our own, and expect them to operate a fair and ethical work place. We have in place systems to:
• Identify and assess potential risk areas amongst our suppliers
• Mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring amongst our suppliers
• Monitor those of our suppliers that present the greatest risk
We ask all our suppliers to sign up to our Supplier Code of Conduct which requires compliance with all applicable laws, statutes, regulations and codes which includes modern slavery. Where applicable, we also obtain and review modern slavery statements of our suppliers.
Risk Assessment
During 2024 we performed a further review of our supplier and outsourcing arrangements which included an assessment of modern slavery and human trafficking risks. Given the nature and scale of our business we have assessed the overall risk to be low. An annual review is conducted to determine any changes in these risks.
Training
We provide mandatory training to our staff that includes:
- Modern Slavery
- Financial crime
- Whistleblowing
The Statement is signed by the Group Chief Executive Officer and Group Chief Compliance Officer on 14 October 2024.