Ethical banking

An ethical bank, also known as a social, alternative, civic, or sustainable bank, is a bank concerned with the social and environmental impacts of its investments and loans. The ethical banking movement includes: ethical investment, impact investment, socially responsible investment, corporate social responsibility, and is also related to such movements as the fair trade movement, ethical consumerism, and social enterprise.

Other areas, such as fair trade, have comprehensive codes and regulations to which all industries that wish to be certified as fair trade must adhere. Ethical banking has not developed to this point; because of this it is difficult to create a concrete definition distinguishing exactly what it is that sets an ethical bank apart from conventional banks. Ethical banks are regulated by the same authorities as traditional banks and have to abide by the same rules. While there are differences between ethical banks, they do share a common set of principles, the most prominent being transparency and social and/or environmental aims of the projects they finance. Ethical banks sometimes work with narrower profit margins than traditional ones, and therefore they may have few offices and operate mostly by phone, Internet, or mail. Ethical banking is considered one of several forms of alternative banking.

The banking system was born in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, travellers and citizens trusted banks as a mean of protection in troubled times. The first two modern banks were open in Genoa in 1406, Banco San Giorgio and in Florence, Banco Soranza. Since old time Christian communities were based on the anti-materialism of Jesus, banking was ethical and any form of "Usura" (High interest lending), was considered as immoral. In England, King Offa of Mercia in 791, then King Alfred the great (849-899), as well as King Edward the Confessor (1042-1066), made usurers outlaw.

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