Ethical Finance:

citizens’ money,

for good

In Ethical Finance, citizens’ money is used for the common good. Funds are directed to social economy projects that ensure local development, through the help of communities, local authorities and international solidarity.

A BIT OF HISTORY

Ethical Finance organisations

Created about 30 years ago all over Europe by citizens-led movements that wanted to regain control over the use of their money, to be channeled for the common good.

FEBEA

FEBEA fosters the exchange of information, experiences, and cooperation between its members and other social economy and alternative finance practitioners in Europe.

RAISON D’ETRE

Working for the common good

Ethical banks promote social inclusion, sustainable development, development of social economy and social entrepreneurship and help raising public awareness on the role of money and the failure of the economy based on short-term approaches and profit as the only objective, while they present a solid alternative.

Needs

Ethical Finance looks after the needs of those who are excluded from the banking system and of savers and investors who are increasingly interested in the way banks use their savings.

Development

Making the “banking institution” once again an instrument of development for the territory and for new social and environmental initiatives.

Commitment

Exclusion of any kind of controversial or harmful sectors: any sector that does not create a direct benefit to society and rather damages it is instantly out of the scope of Ethical Finance’s activity.

New activities

Such as organic farming, renewable energies, the Third Sector (non-profit sector), Fair Trade.

Ethical Finance values

Rootedness

An Ethical Bank is deeply rooted in the territory it operates in, and in its socio-economic networks. This allows the bank to have full knowledge of its clients and their funded projects.

Participation

An ethical bank is always established in a form that allows for a broad participation from its employees and shareholders or members.

Shared governance shields the organization against the manipulation of larger external actors who would not be able to take over the management of the institution.

Transparency

A fundamental value for an ethical bank: transparency in the origin and in the use of money, in credit and business management. Transparency must be ensured especially towards customers.

SERVICES

Solidarity-based and transparent financial products

Ethical banks offers different forms of solidarity investments: cooperative shares, savings, supportive shareholder, life insurance, etc.

Funded projects

All or part of the money invested must fund projects that help build a fairer, more inclusive and sustainable society.

Never placed in speculative activity but in projects that have a direct impact on the society from which it emanates.

Investment tools and solidarity sharing

Financing: microcredit to individuals, professional microcredit, credit to associations, guarantees, equity investments, etc.

Developing ancillary activities to the projects in order to give them the greatest chance of success.

Wherever someone is trying to build a more just, caring and resilient society

Social finance is active in all sectors of civil society and works where there are citizens committed to improving the world in which they live.

Thanks to common people’s savings, social finance SUPPORTS :

A good

option

After the 2008 financial crisis, no ethical bank had to be saved with public money. Ethical banks did actually manage to grow thanks to their close links with the territory and their clients.

The annually published report on Ethical and Value-Based Finance in Europe demonstrates, year after year, that ethical banks have proven to be more resilient to changes and natural disasters, present higher performance in their economic activities, and are committed to financing the ‘real economy’ through credit and loans instead of speculating in financial markets.

Report on Ethical Finance in Europe

FEBEA's Charter

Take control of

how your money

is used

By choosing an Ethical Finance organisation to manage your savings, investments, pensions funds, insurances, you are choosing to support local communities, social economy and sustainable development.

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.

DISCOVER

Ethical Finance stories

How organised civil society can change the world.

The war in Ukraine has unchained an unprecedented humanitarian crisis that is now reaching neighbouring countries and will gradually extend throughout Europe.
Since “In the same boat” was established in 2017, we have cleared more than 800,000 kilograms of plastic garbage from Norway’s coast.
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.
Our member La Nef has contributed to the financing of the first fully vegan and organic restaurant awarded with a Michelin star in France: ONA.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or enquiries, please feel free to contact our team.