Founded in Brussels in 2001, FEBEA is the European Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks and Financiers.

Working for a fair,

sustainable and

inclusive society

Founded in Brussels in 2001, FEBEA is the European Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks and Financiers.
An international non-profit organisation that brings together 32 financial institutions from 17 European countries with the aim of developing ethical and social finance in Europe.

FEBEA brings together different financial organisations driven by the values of Ethical Finance.

DISCOVER

Why Ethical Finance

Ethical Finance empowers people to control how their money is used, supporting local communities, the social economy, and sustainable development. Originating from citizens-led movements 30 years ago, Ethical Finance aims at using savings and investments for the common good.

Use of money

Ethical financiers mindfully choose where to place their money, always selecting initiatives with transformative social and sustainable perspectives. They commit to excluding harmful sectors, such as fossil fuels, from their portfolios and they avoid seeking short-term profits in their financial behaviour. Instead, they prioritise long-term positive impacts for the common good.

Transparency

Ethical financiers maintain transparency throughout the entire process, from the collection of the funds to their use. They openly publish and demonstrate how and for what purposes shareholders’ money is used.

Governance

Ethical financiers have collaborative and participatory governance structures. Some operate as cooperatives, where each shareholder’s vote has equal value, regardless of the number of shares owned. Others implement participatory systems that involve their social base, customers, or members in the organisation’s management.

Ethical Finance stories

How organised civil society can change the world

FEBEA Members mobilised for the Ukranian humanitarian crisis

The war in Ukraine has unchained an unprecedented humanitarian crisis that is now reaching neighbouring countries and will gradually extend throughout Europe.

Story #3: Cultura Bank supports “In the same boat” initiative

Since “In the same boat” was established in 2017, we have cleared more than 800,000 kilograms of plastic garbage from Norway’s coast.

Banca Etica Supports Sustainable Tourism

Our member Banca Etica supports Fairbnb.coop, a platform that applies criteria of legality and sustainability, collaborates with local institutions and allocates 50% of the commission paid by the traveler for each transaction to support projects with a positive social impact in the local community.

Give another

meaning to

your money

All FEBEA members are committed to avoiding financing any kind of harmful sectors such as the weapon industry, fossil fuels or tobacco industry. Instead, they are focused on financing the real economy, which positively impacts the sustainable development of local communities.

Find ethical banks

Europe

Navigate the Map

To navigate the map, click on any of the available countries.

Hold, click and drag the cursor across the screen to move around.

Click on the yellow points on the map to learn more about FEBEA’s members.

Select the house icon on the bottom left corner to zoom out and select a different country.

CONFERENCE 2024

Annual conference

The FEBEA Annual Conference brings together experts in the field of ethical finance and social economy at European and international level. The FEBEA annual event is an unique opportunity to exchange on the challenges and opportunities faced by ethical finance actors with respect to the changing social and political context.

“Ethical Finance’s culture views the construction of social justice as the ultimate aim of all our financial undertakings.
This is what we do, it is in our nature; we cannot and do not want to do anything else.”

Pedro Sasia

FEBEA Chairman

NEWS

Stay informed

Building bridges with EUCLID at the Social Economy European Conference 2024 – Liège

On 12 and 13 February, the city of Liège hosted the “European Social Economy Meeting: The social economy at the heart of transitions’ under the Belgian Presidency.

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News

February 14, 2024

Vienna’s Social Housing Success: A Blueprint for Affordable Living

Under the SIFTA program, FEBEA held a training on the topic of social housing last week in Vienna, co-organised by one of its Austrian members, the European Centre for Social Finance. Given the current salience of the topic, the training gathered experts with different backgrounds to provide a picture of the current challenges and solutions to the lack of affordable housing Europe is increasingly facing. With a bright history in social housing, Vienna was chosen as the destination of this session as it has a large enough pool of organisations working in the field, but also because it allowed to complete the event with a field visit to one of the largest social housing complexes in the world, the Karl Marx Hof.

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News

October 31, 2023

FEBEA Board Members Attend the 6th African Microfinance Week in Togo

The African Microfinance Week (SAM), known by its French acronym “Semaine africaine de la microfinance,” is a biennial event that serves as a prominent platform for the advancement of financial inclusion in Africa. This prestigious gathering attracts professionals from various sectors, including investors, microfinance institutions (MFIs), researchers, banks, networks, innovators, and governmental representatives. The 6th edition of SAM, held in Lomé from the 16th to the 20th of October, 2023, brought together over 1,100 participants from across Africa. Among those in attendance were Anne-Sophie Bougouin and Dominique Lesaffre, representing FEBEA.