Our Commitment

Alliance Bank celebrates diversity and inclusion as part of our culture. Together, we strive to improve our work processes with the aim of providing opportunities for growth as well as to improve the lives of our employees and newly hired colleagues. We welcome and value the diverse voices of our employees. We embrace diversity from the very start of our hiring process, omitting request for details such as age, gender and religion from our job application form on the Alliance Bank Career Page. We will also continue to strengthen our efforts in ensuring Equal Opportunity in work processes.

We promote mutual respect for our employees and applicants alike. We hire and promote based on merit and assess all candidates fairly. Employees are evaluated based on behavioural and professional criteria for career progression. A diverse committee of senior management decides on promotions and monetary compensation. We adopt a stance of Equal Opportunity Employer, and recruitment is conducted in a fair and just manner regardless of nationality, race, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation and disability.

We are dedicated to providing employment opportunities to local talent. We remain guided by the permissible guidelines of any regulations and governing laws concerning foreign talent.

In pursuit of diverse and equal gender participation, in FY2022, 61% of our workforce are women, of which 80% hold management positions (Senior Executives and above) while women representation in our Management Committee stood at 24% and 16% in the Group’s Board of Directors. As of the end of 2022, less than 1% of our staff have disabilities.

Any complaints of discrimination are investigated thoroughly via the Bank’s disciplinary processes, and consequence management is applied accordingly.

Alliance Bank is committed to respecting and supporting children’s rights. As such, the Bank does not tolerate, engage in or support, the use of child labour and the exploitation of children and young persons in any of our endeavours and/or in employment. To read more on our policy and guidelines on child labour and employment of children and young persons, click here.

We do not tolerate, engage in, or support, any form of forced or compulsory labour including bonded labour, indentured labour and slave labour, or human trafficking. We also do not require that our employees surrender any government-issued identification, such as a passport or work permit, to the Bank as a condition of employment.

The Bank has appropriate channels for internal and external stakeholders to report misconduct without fear of reprisals. It maintains a strong stance on whistle blowing and has included it as a reporting clause in all third-party contracts and agreements in its business deals.

Our Whistleblowing Policy serves as a mechanism for employees to report misconduct without retaliation. The policy also identifies possible gaps and potential misalignment with the ethics and integrity of the Bank and some of its employees.

We continuously enhance and revise the policy to reflect and respond to industry and situational changes. The Whistleblowing Policy was last updated in March 2020, whereby harassment and discrimination acts were incorporated. The revised version of the policy also included other examples to assist staff in identifying such actions.

We instituted a robust mechanism to maintain the strictest of confidence for complaints made in good faith. Employees are made aware of the importance and availability of this platform during staff induction programmes, staff communications and in the Huddle letters.

The Bank has a Whistleblowing Statement to enable external stakeholders to communicate any instances of unethical conduct, harassment, discrimination and unreasonable behaviours by all parties, with recourse to reporting channels both internally and externally. In FY2023, the Bank did not receive any complaints of this nature.

Alliance Bank provides guidance to all new hires (including Managers) on handling complaints of harassment and discrimination (including bullying) and the escalation avenues via its employee Inductions programme. All new employees are advised to manage it tactfully when it comes to reports of harassment or bullying. The do’s and don’ts’ are outlined clearly for ease of reference.

The escalation procedure for breaches is also provided in the Code of Conduct. The yearly mandatory e-learning on Alliance Bank’s Code of Conduct also reinforces the process and procedures for breach/incident escalation. Similarly, Alliance Bank’s Whistleblowing Policy also outlines harassment and discrimination as the potential subject of complaints under the whistle blower platform. It provides guidance on the appropriate escalation procedure for the same.

Alliance Bank recognises the constitutional right of its employees to freedom of association. It complies with all national laws concerning the same. Correspondingly, Alliance Bank supports the rights of its employees to form and/or join trade unions and recognises 4 trade unions as negotiating bodies in respect of the categories of employees represented (Clericals, Non-Clericals, Special Grade Clerks and Officers).

Alliance Bank, through its trade representatives, the Malayan Commercial Bank’s Association, the Sarawak Commercial Bank’s Association and the Sabah Commercial Bank’s Association, engages in separate collective agreement negotiations with these 4 Unions. In FY2022, 17% of Alliance Bank employees are represented by trade unions or covered under a collective agreement.

The Bank recognises the standards and rights conferred by all applicable national labour and industrial relations laws and is fully compliant. Our employment policies and practices also promote employee empowerment and recognition whilst regulating individual and collective employment relations. Currently, all our employees, including those in the most junior job grades, are paid above the nation’s minimum wages.

The Bank continuously strives to monitor published living wages and benchmark against industry practices to ensure that our employee’s total annual wages remain competitive and relevant to cost of living. We aim to provide a conducive work environment in terms of an appropriate work life balance which includes elimination of excessive working hours and our commitment is monitored through employee satisfaction surveys. 86% of employees responded favourably on being able to balance both work and personal commitments in the Bank’s most recent employee survey.

We conduct an annual employee engagement survey, the Voice of Employee (“VOE”), to gather constructive feedback from employees at all levels of the organisation. This feedback helps us design specific employee engagement initiatives to meet their needs.

Our Sustainable Engagement Index, which measures how engaged, enabled and energised our employees are, achieved a score of 90% in FY2022. This score was above the Malaysian Financial Services and the Global High Performing Average.

This score reflected the improvement in employees’ sentiments, in particular:

 

• The well-being index, which measures employees’ sentiments with regard to mental, emotional and physical support provided by the Bank, improved to 89% in FY2022 from 87% in FY2021
• The communication index improved to 89% in FY2022 from 87% in FY2021

85% of employees responded that they were able to balance their work and personal commitments.

The Group’s performance is measured using the balanced scorecard approach. It encompasses metrics that are based on the Bank’s key financials, franchise-building focusing on medium- to longer-term strategic initiatives and our sustainability agenda encompassing the ESG elements of climate change and human capital (including culture). Our FY2025 sustainability targets have been outlined in the Sustainability Microsite and every division in the Bank is committed towards achieving these common goals.

The climate change sustainability key performance indicators (KPIs) covering sustainable banking business, helping our customers adopt sustainable lifestyles and business practices as well as reducing the Group’s greenhouse gas emission footprint have been incorporated into the scorecard of Group CEO, all senior management and key sustainability champions. These sustainability champions are identified and trained or certified in ESG to enhance their ESG competencies and in turn equipped to deliver our ESG initiatives and to competently advise our customers.

The Board sets the tone from the top by reviewing and approving the Group’s balanced scorecard. The Group Sustainability Board Committee provides oversight on the sustainability goals, measures, strategic plans and implementation to ensure we uphold our commitment and deliverables of the sustainability KPIs.

The Group’s balanced scorecard is cascaded to the various functional units and employees to ensure alignment with its aspirations. This KPI alignment is measured in its Voice of Employees survey. The Bank actively manages the performance of employees to ensure a robust link between the achievement of the Bank’s objectives, individual performance and remuneration outcomes. Formal assessments occur biannually, at the middle and end of each performance year.

Employee performance is assessed against what an employee achieves and how he/she achieves it. Individual objectives or Key Performance Indicators represent “what” the employee is expected to achieve. Overall individual performance is calculated based on a ratio of 80% from Objectives and 20% from Key Behaviours and Values. In addition, the overall performance is subject to penalties that are based on risk, compliance and control outcomes.

   

To safeguard the independence and authority of employees engaged in Risk and Control functions that cover Compliance, Risk Management and Internal Audit, the performance of employees in Risk and Control functions are assessed independently of the performance of any business areas they oversee. The performance metrics of these employees are based principally on the achievement of the objectives of their job functions, rather than on the financial performance of the Bank. The remuneration of these risk and control functions’ employees is positioned at a higher fixed pay component and reviewed annually.

Remuneration

Philosophy

Fair, equitable remuneration that recognises high performance via variable pay and incentives without encouraging excessive risk taking.

Policy

The Group Remuneration Policy governs the design and management of remuneration for employees in the Bank. The policy is reviewed and endorsed by the Group Nomination & Remuneration Committee (“Group NRC”) and approved by the Board every two (2) years or earlier whenever material changes are required; and to ensure that remuneration practices and programmes are consistent with regulatory requirements and the Group’s aspirations. It covers all employees, including Senior Management of the Group.

Sustainability KPIs are carried by senior management and differentiated by their roles as leaders of business, enablers and governance. The compensation pool assigned to each division is dependent on their achievements of their respective KPIs which include the ESG elements or parameters. Hence, the success of these sustainability initiatives will have a direct impact to the short term incentive bonus funding at group, division and individual levels. The Long Term Incentive (“LTI”) plan is under review and will incorporate the Group’s key sustainability goals. Employees covered by collective agreements or subject to labour union negotiations are bound by the terms and conditions of such agreements.

In essence, our Board members, Group CEO, senior management and sustainability champions are being upskilled in ESG matters. The upskilling and medium to long term sustainability targets drive our employees towards meeting the KPIs, and they are rewarded or recognised accordingly.

Strategy/Principles:

• Supports a performance culture that is based on merit, differentiates and rewards performance, both in the short and long term, and recognises the Bank’s Values/Key Behaviours;
• Enables the Bank to attract and retain employees and to motivate them to achieve the desired results;
• Balances the mix of fixed and variable pay to appropriately reflect the value and responsibility of the role, and to influence appropriate behaviours and actions;
• Consistent with, and promotes, effective risk management practices and the Bank’s compliance and control culture; and
• Takes into account the long-term performance of the Bank, in order to create sustainable financial performance and value for the Bank and shareholders.

 

 

The Bank’s total remuneration is made up of the following components:

 

 

Determining Variable Remuneration

The Board approved the Short-Term Incentive Framework in 2017 to ensure the variable remuneration complies with the BNM Policy Document on Corporate Governance. The Group bonus pool is determined based on the overall Group performance and is subject to risk adjustments. The Group NRC takes into consideration collective input from Internal Audit, Risk Management and Compliance on both quantitative and qualitative risk outcomes to determine need for moderation to the Group Bonus Pool. The final bonus pool is approved by the Board.

Individual employees are also accountable to keep the Bank safe via their daily contribution to risk, compliance and control measures. A consequence management framework is in place to keep employees informed of the consequences of significant breaches or non-compliance which includes disciplinary actions and impact to remuneration.

The Bank has identified Material Risk Takers comprising the Senior Management and other officers who are not members of the Senior Management whose responsibilities have a material impact on the Group’s performance and risk profile. The variable remuneration of Material Risk Takers and other highly remunerated employees is subject to deferral policy. The deferral serves to align remuneration payment schedules with the time horizon of risks and the potential for financial risks to crystallise over a longer period of time. Under the deferral policy, the variable remuneration is subject to a progressive deferral rate of up to 40% where the deferral rate increases with the higher amount of variable remuneration. The deferred portion or award will vest equally over a period of three (3) years. The deferred awards, both unvested and vested portions, are subject to forfeiture and clawback in the event of a material restatement of the Bank or business unit’s financials or significant deterioration in the Bank or business unit’s financial health and/or if the employee has committed misconduct or resigned.