There’s a growing desire worldwide by a group of ‘green’ banks, united in the Global Alliance for Banking Values (GABV), to attract more customers to their sustainable activities. Increased demand for such products and services is a major reason.
The GABV banks, including Dutch bank Triodos, came together in The Netherlands recently to discuss extending the possibilities of sustainable banking. During the meeting, the 28 CEOs announced a plan to extend their reach from 20 million sustainable banking customers across 30 plus countries to between 70 and 100 million customers in a few years. Simultaneously, the banks want to increase the opportunities for sustainable investment and banking.
According to Global Alliance members there’s an emergency with regard to the financing of social and environmental projects that work towards a sustainable future. If the desired growth is achieved, the sustainably operating banks will, in their own words, be successful in positively impacting the lives of one billion people.
The Alliance expects to see continued growth in the demand for values-based banking services, especially if the big banks continue to invest a significant portion of their assets in financial markets rather than the Real Economy. Research shows that GABV banks (ethical/values-based banks) are more stable and as profitable serving the Real Economy than other big banks.
Thomas Jorberg, CEO of German cooperative GLS Bank, pioneers of sustainable banking in Europe, also spoke about new sustainable business models and innovation: ‘In addition to transparently converting savings into impactful lending, we want to put more emphasis on the strength of venture capital to finance new sustainable development. In these times of disruptive challenges, we must innovate and become more efficient,’ said Jorberg.
Opinion Piece courtesy of Duurzam.
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