ESG is in Our DNA

Acting responsibly towards our customers and their debtors, our employees, the environment, and society as a whole is deeply ingrained in the ethos of the Collectia organization.

Robust governance enables the Collectia Group to clearly define our sustainability ambitions and establish the necessary structures and processes to achieve them.

This governance keeps us on track as we strive to fulfill our commitments and navigate the key risks and opportunities in sustainability.

4 Focus Areas

Investing in Our People

Our employees are our strongest asset, and therefore we want to ensure the best conditions for them to grow professionally and personally through education and career development for the benefit of our customers and debtors.

There is also a strong focus on the work environment, including the balance between work and private life.

A Greener Collectia

We want to be the greenest digital debt collection company. We will do this by leading the climate fight with sustainable projects, reducing our CO2 emissions and promoting a green mindset among our stakeholders. Therefore, we have launched the project ‘A Greener Collectia’ to help realize our goals.

Treating Customers and Debtors Fairly

Through employee coaching, we ensure fair treatment of our debtors. In addition, we only work with customers who are fair and do not impose high interest rates and unreasonable fees.

We have an open approach and actively seek to help debtors get out of debt in the most efficient way.

GDPR Compliance and Security

The Group Objective is to ensure that compliance controls and processes are consistent across the Group. As compliance is a great concern for all businesses – and especially in our industry, we believe that it is of great importance that we continue to improve and are up-to-date on our GDPR and general compliance. This is done with a common GRC-system across the Group and by measuring the completion of the employees’ GDPR awareness training program.

Our Approach

Collectia contributes to good payment habits and healthy financial conditions in business life. Our values are especially important when we contact our customers, who have outstanding claims with their debtors. Our vision, values, customer promises, and ethical principles are the foundation of our business and the management of our customers.

Our customer promises stem from our commitment to achieving satisfied and long-term relationships with our customers by delivering the best industry solutions and customer service available. We aim to provide the highest solution rate in the market, be the best in service and follow-up, and have high customer satisfaction.

Our promise is only possible due to our IT approach to the debt collection industry, where we are at the forefront with the most advanced and latest technologies, combined with the valuable efforts of our many dedicated and skilled debt advisors, who meet our customers’ debtors at eye level.
Collectia contributes to good payment habits and healthy financial conditions in business life. Our values are especially important when we contact our customers, who have outstanding claims with their customers. Our vision, values, customer promises, and ethical principles are the foundation of our business and the management of our customers.
Ethics and compliance with our values are fundamental to our entire business and influence our attitudes, our behavior, and communication. Our basic principles of ethics are openness, integrity, confidentiality, and professionalism in all aspects.

Our goal is to be consistent and open in all communication and collaboration with our customers, debtors, partners, media, authorities, and everyone else affected by our business. We aim to be proactive and accurate in all contexts and act in accordance with our strict guidelines for personal protection and confidentiality. There should never be any doubt about our integrity and ethics, both internally and externally.
Good debt collection practice forms the framework for how we conduct business. We always put the customer at the center and look individually at each debt collection case. We understand that a late or missing payment can be due to financial problems that can suddenly arise in different phases of life. Here, our task is to meet the customer at eye level and engage in constructive dialogue to find a solution that benefits both parties. At the same time, we must ensure that the process is flexible, easy, and transparent.

Our Green Journey

Acting responsibly towards our customers, their customers, our employees, the environment, and society in general is deeply embedded in our organizational culture.

Since 2016, Collectia has been on an ambitious expansion journey, one that has so far consisted of several company acquisitions abroad and significant growth in the Danish market. Parallel to the journey and the underlying expansion strategy, we launched the project ‘A Greener Collectia’. The purpose of the project is to ensure that Collectia achieves its goals in an environmentally responsible manner. In our view, this adds both human and business value.

Lead the Way

We aim to be the greenest digital debt collection company. Our plan involves leading the climate fight with sustainable projects, reducing our CO2 emissions, and promoting a green mindset among our stakeholders, both internally and externally within the organization.

Reducing our CO2 Footprint

Paper consumption reduction, solar cells on the office roof, transition to EVs by installing charging stations, and waste sorting are just a few of our initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint.

Adopting a New Mindset

To help the sustainability vision of Collectia, the employees must adopt a ‘green’ mindset. Employees are critical in identifying resourceful ways to create a sustainable workplace. Project transparency and training are key.

Our Contribution to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

Every day, we actively work with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, with a particular focus on ensuring access to sustainable and modern energy supply (No. 7), supporting sustainable initiatives in local communities (No. 11), and combating climate change (No. 13).

Project Net Zero: Sustainable Energy Sources in Lebanon

Collectia is proud to be the main sponsor for Xplora’s ‘Net Zero in 12 months’ project in Bchaaleh, Lebanon. We are helping the local community to improve living conditions by establishing sustainable energy sources in a country deeply affected by the current energy crisis and weakened national economy.

Go to the article to read more about how Xplora and Collectia are already making a difference in Lebanon in collaboration with United Cities.

The Green Workplace

Reducing Paper Usage
Our employees work every day to make a difference for our climate. Although we have different job functions at Collectia, we all share a common goal to become a greener Collectia – every day! We do this in part by reducing our paper usage, which has historically always been high in the debt collection industry. In addition, we have invested in solar energy at our headquarters and are committed to educating, engaging, and involving employees in green initiatives, fostering sustainable thinking.

Carbon Neutral Electricity
At Collectia, we have invested in sustainable energy sources in the form of solar panel systems at our headquarters in Brøndby. The solar energy ensures power to all our buildings, and results in 12.8 tons less CO2 emissions annually.

Mailbox for Green Ideas
Our employees are our most important asset, therefore, they should also have influence on our sustainable journey. We have made this possible by having a digital mailbox where everyone has the opportunity to give inputs for green initiatives. Our mission is that everyone should experience working in a progressive organization with embedded green values, and that everyone’s work actively contributes to our goal of a greener Collectia.

Lighting

At Collectia, we take responsibility and support the Energy Agency’s call to reduce energy consumption. We do this, among other things, by having LED lights and light sensors in the rooms at our headquarters. We encourage not only employees to reduce energy consumption at work, but also at home. We do this through internal information campaigns with good advice, displayed around the house in Brøndby.

After installing light sensors throughout the Brøndby campus, we have managed to save a total of 18,004 kWh. This corresponds to a saving of 27% in just 5 months compared to the same period last year, a remarkable saving equivalent to powering a typical Danish home for about 3.5 years based on an annual electricity consumption of 5,200 kWh.

Charging Stations for Electric Vehicles
We make it easy for our employees and guests to be environmentally friendly. Therefore, we have set up charging stations for electric cars in the parking lot of the headquarters – that’s good energy! In this way, we promote the transition from conventional cars to electric cars, which contributes to reduced CO2 emissions.

Waste Management

In all departments, modular waste systems have been established, ensuring that all employees sort waste. In this way, we contribute to the circular economy, where waste is seen as a resource that can be fully utilized. Together, we can help improve the environment for the benefit of future generations.

We have taken several initiatives in our canteen to reduce food waste and promote sustainability. One of our special initiatives is our “Leftover Friday”, where we eat leftovers from the week’s meals. Additionally, we are committed to reusing leftovers and transforming them into new and tasty meals. Another effort is our weekly meat-free day, where we primarily use leftovers to create delicious vegetarian dishes. If there are days with excess food, we encourage our employees to take the leftovers home. This approach helps us ensure that no food goes to waste.

GDPR compliance

In an industry like ours, we work with large amounts of personal data. We must comply with legislation and its principles of data processing. This commitment applies not only to all internal policies and procedures but also to ensuring that our customers have full confidence in our high standard of rule compliance.

Some of the activities that we do to be GDPR-compliant are the following:

ISAE 3000 Audit Statement
Employee Training and Ongoing Awareness
Record of Processing Activities, according to Article 30
Policies and Procedures
Risk Assessments and DPIA (Data Protection Impact Assessments)
Dedicated Internal Resources
Voluntarily Appointed DPO (Data Protection Officer)
Access Control and Rights

Employee Instructions and Confidentiality
Supervision of Data Processors
Deletion and Retention Policies
Logging of Any Incidents
Compliance with Data Subject’s Rights
Scanning of Unstructured Data
Self-Assessment and Ongoing Maintenance of the Entire GDPR Setup

Code of conduct

The Code of Conduct Policy outlines principles that govern our behaviour and way of doing business in the Collectia Group.