Ethics, Integrity and Transparency: Purchasing with a Purpose at BNP Paribas Personal Finance

Albane Chaves, a purchaser for the Consulting, Studies and IT unit, and Vincent Villat, Purchasing Director, play an essential role in relations between BNP Paribas Personal Finance and their suppliers and service providers. Ensuring good communication between the company and its partners, they enforce compliance with ethics, integrity and transparency rules and help develop and monitor compliance with the CSR commitments made by BNP Paribas Personal Finance.

How long have you been working for BNP Paribas Personal Finance?

Albane: I started at BNP Paribas Personal Finance in 2012.

Vincent: I have been working for BNP Paribas Personal Finance for just over ten years and for the BNP Paribas Group for around fifteen in all.

Can you describe your responsibilities for us?

Albane: I am in charge of the Consulting and Studies categories. So I wear a lot of different hats! When the department staff want to issue a call for tenders for an outside consultant, I work with them and help them through the steps of the process, from writing the call for tenders to meeting with different service providers, not to mention negotiating prices, and all this has to happen in accordance with the consultancy procedures set out by our Group.
I also work with the sales and marketing departments. My work also involves the Net Promoter System (NPS), making sure that we always put our customers first and that we do everything we can to make sure they would recommend BNP Paribas Personal Finance.
In addition, I am the CSR contact person for the Group purchasing department and as such I make sure that we assess CSR compliance for our largest suppliers.

Vincent: Just like Albane, I have many responsibilities. My role involves organising and coordinating the purchasing department for BNP Paribas Personal Finance in France and in the countries where we have a major presence. I make sure that all our purchasers throughout the world offer the best solutions on the market to our in-house customers so we can provide the right fit for their needs. I also keep an eye on compliance with best practices and ensure that our purchasing is fully optimised.

How would you describe your relations with suppliers and service providers?

Vincent: We have a large number of suppliers and it is impossible to maintain the same relations with all of them. We strive to build long-lasting partnerships, however. Our relations must work for both parties at every level; this is especially true when it comes to CSR.

Our goal is to change how people think of our job. Our work entails making sure that we make high-quality, safe and cost-effective purchases, while also applying a code of ethics, integrity and transparency to the process.

Do you try to motivate your suppliers to follow in your footsteps when it comes to taking CSR commitments to the next level?

Albane: CSR is very important to us and it must inform all of our actions. The promises we have made also extend to our suppliers and service providers, of course, but they are more applicable to certain categories of purchases, such as printers or recycling services for IT equipment. A CSR questionnaire is included with all our calls for tender. It helps us assess our partners’ commitment to social and environmental criteria. These criteria carry a lot of weight in our final decisions. We also encourage all our suppliers and service providers to sign the CSR charter for the BNP Paribas Group.

Vincent: CSR is certainly a top priority for BNP Paribas Personal Finance. Over the past 15 years we have made significant progress and we are increasingly demanding with our partners when it comes to making concrete CSR, equity, diversity and labour rights commitments in all the countries where we operate.