• The capitals
• Connectivity of information
• Materiality
• Stakeholder relationships

Key observations:

Itau Unibanco’s 2016 Integrated Report demonstrates strong connectivity when linking material issues to both the six capitals and the organisation’s stakeholders. The report initially outlines the company’s approach to materiality (paras. 3.17-3.28 of the International <IR> Framework), explaining how Itau Unibanco identify, prioritise, validate and evaluate individual themes. A subsequent matrix then depicts the level of materiality to the company’s stakeholders (either ‘medium’, ‘high’ or ‘very high’) for 22 themes.

The 22 themes are then plotted in a table against the capitals most exposed to, the stakeholders most affected, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which relate most to each theme. This shows alignment with para. 3.6 of the International <IR> Framework – which states that integrated reports should show the dependencies between factors that affect the organisation’s ability to create value (in this case, material themes and the capitals) – and para. 3.10 of the International <IR> Framework – which asks for evidence for how the organisation takes into account stakeholders’ legitimate needs and interests. The inclusion of links between material themes and the SDGs also exhibits alignment with para. 2.4 of the <IR> Framework as it shows that value transformed by the organisation is related to value transformed for society at large.