“If money governs the world, who governs money?”, asks Jean-Marc de Boni, of La Nef. Ethical finance was born to give back to the people the control over the use of their money. According to FEBEA’s charter “an ethical bank is always established in a form that allows for a broad participation from its employees and shareholders or members”. Indeed, many of FEBEA’s members are cooperatives, a form of enterprise that is democratic in nature through its principle of 1 member, 1 vote. But how do we apply the participatory and democratic principle to daily practice?

We propose to begin a conversation, to be continued throughout 2025, about governance models that best respond to this critical aspiration of ethical finance: a democratic and participatory financial system that works for, and is controlled by, the people.

Sociocracy is one attempt, among others, at answering this question. It is a method of decision-making that incorporates broad participation, deliberation, and delegation into management of an organisation. It does so by following three main principles: consent-based decisions, circle-based organisation and double-linking delegation. In this webinar, we will explore how two FEBEA members, Alternative Bank of Switzerland (ABS), a Bank, and GfG, a financial services cooperative, have applied their concept to their organisations.