Alternative Bank Schweiz
ABS in Olten, building of the former Walter Verlag
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Native name
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(in German) Alternative Bank Schweiz (in French) Banque alternative suisse (in Italian) Banca alternativa svizzera |
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| Aktiengesellschaft | |
| Industry | Banking |
| Founded | 1990 |
| Headquarters | Olten, Switzerland |
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Number of locations
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3 |
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Area served
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Switzerland |
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Key people
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Martin Rohner, director |
| Products | ethical and sustainable banking |
| Services | Investments, loans, bank accounts |
| Revenue | 1,586 million CHF (2014) |
| 7,1 million CHF (2014) | |
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Number of employees
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90 (2014) |
| Website | www.abs.ch |
Alternative Bank Schweiz (ABS) is a sustainability-oriented bank based in Olten, Canton of Solothurn, in Switzerland. It is situated at the former location of the Walter Verlag.
The Alternative Bank Schweiz (ABS) is the everyday banking for those who want to know what is happening with their money and how it can make even good work declares the bank. It was founded in 1990 by several organisations, a union, various charities, among them Greenpeace Switzerland and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and also initiated by the Erklärung von Bern (EvB, renamed "Public Eye" in 2016) association. Since 1990 the ABS has evolved from an alternative operation with a few people to a hierarchically structured company with departments and supervisors. The bank had also to say goodbye to some ideals, so it could not support people that make no money, just because they have a ‹good ethological opinion›. As some years ago, some cooperatively organized enterprises got in bankruptcy after the founding, it was sobering for the bank's staff. ABS survived this turmoil without saying goodbye to their core values. Regardless, the ABS shares in today's banking environment continuously gained value, so sustainability is expressed also in sustainable growth.
Nevertheless, over the years the ABS threw some strict requirements over board. So they did not want to grant loans for single-family homes, but ceased in the late of 1990s that otherwise customers would be lost. In order to fulfil their founding goals, the ABS introduced a private real estate rating, resulting in favourable loans for social and ecological buildings.
Investing their customers' money involves difficult ethical decisions for the ABS: which stocks should be bought, which titles are all right, which are not? The economist Martin Rohner, former director of the Max Havelaar Foundation (Switzerland), has been the ABS'S managing director since 2012. ABS has "green and red lists" for their investment strategy, the latter including companies dealing with weapons, the nuclear industry, or which earn money with gene technology, as well as the porn industry in general. For example, corporations that produce environmentally friendly cars, or a pharmaceutical company, which uses genetic engineering but at the same time provides affordable medicines for the poor – are categorized using an extensive list including: eligibility criteria, exclusion criteria and positive criteria. The ABS does not publish its rating list, but for customers, however, this is accessible. Today, after the ABS has served as model since the 1990s, almost all banks offer so-called sustainable, ethical funds. However, for the ABS ethical standards are far more than just a marketing strategy. It uses the triple-bottom-line ‹People-planet-profit›, ideology, which means a strict adherence to ensuring the economy is a means to an end, and not for earning high profits. Banks should meet the needs of the people, without destroying the world.
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