Materiality

We define information as ‘material’ when it is of significant interest to – and has the potential to influence in this context – stakeholders’ decisions and judgments about Barclays commitment to economic, social and environmental progress.

The diagram below was developed through research conducted by Deloitte at the end of 2008. The approach was designed to surface a reasonable level of detail about our sustainability issues and stakeholder attitudes. The 12 issues identified were selected based on Deloitte’s determination of the universe of issues of likely relevance to Barclays and the global banking sector. The focus of this work was on understanding the issues from stakeholders’ perspectives as reported in the media. These issues were all of greater interest and importance to some stakeholder groups than others.

Relative materiality

The significance of the issues depicted is a relative measure as compared to the analysis as a whole. For example, while all the issues are important, across the entirety of the search results, employee welfare received less prominent coverage than customer and client support or financial crime. Subsequently, Deloitte facilitated an internal workshop at Barclays to determine the key issues of strategic importance to Barclays. The combination of the external prioritisation review and the internal strategic workshop helped determine the specific issues we have focused on in our reporting in 2008.