Ethical banking
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An ethical bank, also known as social, alternative, civic or sustainable bank, is a bank concerned about the social use of its investments and loans. Although there are differences among the main ethical banks, they share a common set of principles, the most prominent being the transparency and the social or environmental aim of the projects they finance. Some of them are specialized in microcredits.
Ethical banks are regulated by the same authorities as traditional banks and have to abide by the same rules. They have to be distinguished from ethical institutions that provide certain banking services but do not meet the legal definition of bank.
The name of "ethical bank" is somewhat controversial, because it seems to imply that the other banks are not ethical. However, it is the most extended denomination.
Ethical banks usually work with narrower profit margins than traditional ones, and therefore they tend to have few offices and operate mostly by phone, Internet or mail. An extreme case of this is Smile (a subsidiary of Co-operative Bank), the first ethical bank that operates exclusively by Internet, followed by eBay Microplace.
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[edit] Green ethical banking
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Green banking is a subset of ethical banking focused on green energy, to address global warming.
[edit] Green banks
[edit] Ethical banks
[edit] English-speaking countries
- Co-operative Bank, United Kingdom.
- Reliance Bank, United Kingdom
- ShoreBank, USA
- RSF Social Finance, San Francisco and New York, USA
- Shared Interest, based in the United Kingdom, investing throughout the developing and developed world.
- Wainwright Bank (USA).
[edit] Non-English-speaking countries
- Banca Popolare Etica, based in Italy, with branch in Spain.
- GLS bank, Germany.
- Grupo Financiero FINSOL (Mexico).
- JAK members bank, Sweden, interest-free bank
- La Nef, France.
- Triodos Bank, based in the Netherlands with branches in Belgium, the United Kingdom and Spain.
[edit] Further reading
- "Banking and Credit Cards", Guardian Unlimited, Feb. 22, 2001.
- "How To Guide: Make the Switch to an Ethical Bank", Friends of the Earth Scotland
- Ben Cohen and Mal Warwick, Values-Driven Business, ISBN 1576753581
- Christopher J. Cowton & Paul Thompson, "Do Codes Make a Difference? The Case of Bank Lending and the Environment", Journal of Business Ethics, v.24, n.2 (March 2000)
- Paul Thompsn & Christopher J. Cowton, "Bringing the Environment into Bank Lending: Implications for Environmental Reporting", British Accounting Review, v.36, n.2, pp. 197-218 (June 2004).
[edit] See also
- Carbon Disclosure Project
- Climate ethics
- Corporate social responsibility
- Equator Principles
- National Venture Capital Association
- Socially responsible investing
[edit] External links
- FEBEA, European Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks
- INAISE, International Association of Investors in the Social Economy
- Social Investment Forum
- Moneyfacts ethical banking information.
- Westpac (Australia).
[edit] Ethical banks
- Banca Popolare Etica (It)
- Co-operative Group ethical policy Smile Bank (The Co-operative Bank).
- Cultura Bank, Norway
- JAK, Sweden, interest-free bank
- Merkur Bank, Denmark
- RSF Social Finance (USA)
- Triodos Bank, UK
- Wainwright Bank & Trust Company (USA), ethical bank.
