Independent Assurance Report to the directors of Sanlam Limited for the year
ended 31 December 2011
Scope of Our Engagement
We have completed our independent assurance engagement to enable us to express our limited assurance conclusions on whether the Sanlam Limited Sustainability Report ("the Report") for the year ended 31 December 2011, has been prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the self-declared Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G3 Guidelines B+ application level using the principles of materiality, completeness and sustainability context, and whether the following key performance indicators ("specified KPIs") contained in the Report have been prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the basis of preparation as described separately in the footnotes to each of the specified KPIs within the relevant sections of the Report ("management's sustainability criteria"):
- Tonnes of CO2 arising from diesel usage at the office buildings of Sanlam Head Office, Hyde Park, Sanlynn, Sanlam Sky, Glacier and Sanlam Investment Management (scope 1 emissions), for the twelve months ended 31 December 2011 as disclosed in the table headed Sanlam RSA's Carbon Footprint (key data indicators) in Climate change and energy;
- Tonnes of CO2 arising from purchased electricity at the office buildings of Sanlam Head Office, Hyde Park, Sanlynn, Sanlam Sky, Glacier and Sanlam Investment Management (scope 2 emissions), for the twelve months ended 31 December 2011 as disclosed in the table headed Sanlam RSA's Carbon Footprint (key data indicators) in Climate change and energy;
- The number of total and average monthly complaint interventions for Sanlam Personal Finance (SPF) referred to the Ombudsman for Long Term Insurance for the twelve months ended 31 December 2011, as disclosed in the table headed Total and average monthly complaints referred to Ombudsmen: 2007 - 2011 (Sanlam Professional Finance including SDM SA)in Treating our clients fairly;
- The percentage of permanent employees in SPF (excluding Sanlam Sky, Glacier and Sanlam Health) with individual development plans in place for the twelve months ended 31 December 2011 as disclosed in Skills development and career progression; and
- The number of instances reported on the independent hotline related to SPF for the twelve months ended 31 December 2011 as disclosed in Promoting ethical behaviour through good governance.
The specified KPIs noted above have been highlighted for identification purposes in the Report through shading.
Our responsibility in performing our independent limited assurance engagement is to Sanlam Limited only and in accordance with the terms of reference for this engagement (including the release letter dated 5 April 2012) as agreed with them. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than Sanlam Limited, for our work, for this report, or for the conclusions we have reached.
Sanlam Limited has elected to prepare the Report in accordance with the principles of the G3 Guidelines which was published by the Global Reporting Initiative, of which a full copy can be obtained from the Global Reporting Initiative's website.
Scope of Our Engagement
The directors are responsible for implementing a stakeholder engagement process to identify all relevant stakeholders, to identify key issues, to respond appropriately to key issues identified, to determine those key performance indicators which may be relevant and material to the identified stakeholders, and to design and apply appropriate sustainability reporting policies. The directors are also responsible for the preparation and presentation of the Report and the information and assessments contained in the Report in accordance with the relevant criteria. This responsibility includes: designing, implementing and maintaining appropriate performance management and systems to record, monitor and improve the accuracy, completeness and reliability of the sustainability data and to ensure that the information and data reported meet the requirements of the relevant criteria, and contains all relevant disclosures that could materially affect any of the conclusions drawn.
Assurance Provider's Responsibility
Our responsibility is to express our limited assurance conclusions on the Report and the specified KPIs based on our independent limited assurance engagement. Our independent limited assurance engagement was performed in accordance with the International Federation of Accountants' (IFACs) International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 Assurance Engagements Other Than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information. This standard requires us to comply with ethical requirements and to plan and perform our engagements to obtain limited assurance regarding the Report and the specified KPIs contained in the Report, as expressed in this report.
Basis of Work and Limitations
The procedures selected depend on our judgement, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the subject matter and the purpose of our engagement. In making these assessments, we have considered internal control relevant to the entity's preparation and presentation of the Report and the information contained therein, in order to design procedures appropriate for gathering sufficient appropriate assurance evidence to determine that the information in the Report is not materially misstated or misleading as set out in the summary of work performed below. Our assessment of relevant internal control is not for the purpose of expressing a conclusion on the effectiveness of the entity's internal controls.
We planned and performed our work to obtain all the information and explanations that we considered necessary to provide a basis for our limited assurance conclusions pertaining to the Report and the specified KPIs, expressed below.
Where a limited assurance conclusion is expressed, our evidence gathering procedures are more limited than for a reasonable assurance engagement, and therefore less assurance is obtained than in a reasonable assurance engagement.
Our report does not extend to providing assurance on the dti Scorecard included in various sections of the Report or the information in the Downloads section of the Report.
Summary of Work Performed
Set out below is a summary of the procedures performed pertaining to the Report and the specified KPIs which were included in the scope of our limited assurance engagement.
- We obtained an understanding of:
- The entity and its environment;
- Entity-level controls;
- The stakeholder dialogue process;
- The selection and application of sustainability reporting policies;
- How management has applied the principle of materiality in preparing the Report and the specified KPIs;
- The significant reporting processes including how information is initiated, recorded, processed, reported and incorrect information is corrected, as well as the policies and procedures within the reporting processes.
- We made such enquiries of management, employees and those responsible for the preparation of the Report and the specified KPIs, as we considered necessary.
- We inspected relevant supporting documentation and obtained such external confirmations and management representations as we considered necessary for the purposes of our engagement.
- We performed analytical procedures and limited tests of detail responsive to our risk assessment and the level of assurance required, including comparison of judgementally selected information to the underlying source documentation from which the information has been derived.
- We considered whether Sanlam Limited has applied the GRI G3 Guidelines to a level described in About this report.
We believe that the evidence obtained as part of our limited assurance engagement, is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our limited assurance conclusions expressed below.
Conclusions
Based on the work performed and subject to the limitations described above, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that:
- The Report has not been prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the self-declared GRI G3 Guidelines B+ application level using the principles of materiality, completeness and sustainability context; and
- The specified KPIs have not been prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with management's sustainability criteria as described in the relevant footnotes for the period ending 31 December 2011.
Other matter
The maintenance and integrity of the Sanlam Website is the responsibility of Sanlam management. Our procedures did not involve consideration of these matters and, accordingly we accept no responsibility for any changes to either the information in the Sanlam Limited Sustainability Report or our assurance report that may have occurred since the initial date of presentation on the Sanlam Website.
Director – Jeremy Grist
Registered Auditor
Chartered Accountant (SA)
Ernst & Young House
35 Lower Long Street
Cape Town
5 April 2012