Ethical banking
Encyclopedia
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. Ethical banks are part of a larger societal movement toward more social and environmental responsibility in the financial sector. This movement includes: ethical investment, socially responsible investment, corporate social responsibility
, and is also related to such movements as the fair trade
movement, ethical consumerism
, boycotting, etc. Ethical banking is a juvenile sector within this movement. 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.
Some businesses externalize costs onto the environment and society. An example of this would be water pollution. A wood mill, for example, could dump its waste into a local river instead of paying to dispose of it properly. This cost is then put onto to the public who uses this water; the costs could come in the form of poor health or as a cost to the local water treatment plant. In order to create more equitable distribution of costs amongst consumers, the environment, and businesses, banks can raise interest rates or apply tariffs on loans given to clients with high environmental risks. This tariff differentiation by banks will stimulate the internalization of environmental costs in market prices. Meaning that companies would pay more if their business caused extensive environmental damage; taking some of the cost off of society as a whole and putting it on the company. Through such price differentiation, banks have the potential to foster sustainability. This potential would be determined by the extent to which all banks worked in unison to create similar regulations that would result in the loss of access loans that treat the environment and/or society as an externality.
Through their intermediary role, banks may be able to support progress toward sustainability by society as a whole—for example, by adopting a ‘carrot-and-stick’ approach, where environmental and social front-runners would pay less interest than the market price for borrowing capital, while environmental laggards would pay a much higher interest rate. Banks can also develop more sustainable products, such as environmental, social, or ethical investment funds. In addition, there is great scope for banks to improve their internal environmental performance. In creating environmental and social screens, banks can promote socially/environmentally-geared companies and penalize those who do not conform to these standards. However it is important that these different possibilities (i.e. social/environmental screens, ethical products, and internal environmental practices) be used as a package. If not, there is a danger that banks could simply do the things that make them look the most ethical (i.e. advertise their recycling program) while not changing other areas that would have a larger impact. If the changes are solely driven by customers, the bank will be pressured to offer preferential treatment to what depositors deem as desirable, but will have limited ability to punish undesirable action. Governmental regulation, initiated by an informed and involved public would be an effective way to ensure that all banks follow socially accepted morals and ethics.
These are only a few of the wide range of services available at different ethical banks. Many also have lower interest rate loans for low emission cars (ex. of low emission car initiative put forth by Citizens Bank).
In general bankers "consider themselves to be in a relatively environmentally friendly industry (in terms of emissions and pollution). However, given their potential exposure to risk, they have been surprisingly slow to examine the environmental performance of their clients. A stated reason for this is that such an examination would ‘require interference’ with a client's activities." While the desire to not meddle in the business of the client is valid, one could also note that banks are required to interfere in the business of their clients regularly to ensure that the clients’ business plan is viable before issuing them a loan. The kind of analysis that all banks partake in is termed a single bottom line
analysis (this analysis only considers financial performance). It is arguable whether or not performing a triple bottom line
analysis (an analysis that takes into account environmental, social, and financial performance) would be any more intrusive.
Ethical banking is a relatively new sector; along with this fact come problems. These problems fall under two categories; the first concerns depositors, and the second concerns ethical banks.
In the first category lies the problem of really knowing how ethical banks measure or qualify their ethical policies. For example when Vancity/Citizen Bank states ‘we seek to work with organizations that demonstrate a commitment to ethical business practices,’ the depositor is unable to understand what ‘seek’ means. These statements sound nice but they do not tell potential depositors how the bank evaluates or uses these statements. This is insufficient. Even when given the opportunity to view an accountability report it is difficult to truly understand what their screening processes are. For example, the Van City Accountability Report for 2006/07 (for Van City credit union and Citizens Bank in Canada)states,
This statement does not give the reader the information s/he needs to understand the criteria used in assessing clients. However statistics such as that given by the Cooperative Bank (UK), stating that in 2003 they reviewed 225 potentially problematic financial opportunities and of these 20% were found to be in conflict with their ethical statements and were subsequently denied further business, costing the bank 6,887,000 pounds, give the consumer the impression that the banks’ proposed ethics, however ambiguous, are being taken seriously.
Another issue in this category is that of codes. Many ethical banks as well as conventional banks voluntarily join larger bodies that put forth certain regulations that, according to the rules set by the body, should be followed by members. Such outside bodies could act as overarching institutions that could guarantee a certain level of conformance with certain regulations. An example of this in the United States is the Food and Drug Administration. Under the FDA consumers can feel confident buying food and drugs because they know that they have to pass certain standards to be available to the public. Depositors who use ethical banks do not have this assurance because there is no external regulatory body that sets minimum acceptable legal standards.
In the second category ethical banks face obstacles such as losing business and consumer support to conventional banks, and having to regulate above and beyond the present international legal systems.
According to Cowton, C. J., and P. Thompson, "banks that had signed the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Statement, a voluntary industry code that promulgated environmental stewardship, transparency, and sustainable development, did not act significantly different than the non-signatories." They concluded that, for codes to be more effective; regulators, monitors, and methods of enforcement need to be in place. This problem is similar to the problems faced by the fair trade movement. Both the fair trade movement and ethical banks rely on people to pay extra for known ethical goods. There is a limit to how much more people will pay for that guarantee, after that point further initiatives will undercut the banks income and therefore are likely to not be followed.
Losing business to banks that do not screen so strictly is a problem for ethical banks. Many times ethical banks must work with much lower budgets because of this. Ethical banks exclusion of unethical borrowers often results in the borrowers going to other banks, this brings up the importance of industry wide regulations. One way of raising the industry wide regulations would be for citizens to apply pressure on banks. Without this rise it is difficult to impede unethical businesses from finding a bank to finance their projects. A rise in regulations that deal with moral topics is not out of the question. The current industry wide codes, for example, prohibit the financing of illegal drug production. This reflects the prominent societal morals against such drugs.
Ethical banks cannot solely rely upon the legal system to determine whether or not a potential client has acted unethically or whether or not their future plans are unethical. This is because of the wide range of laws throughout the world. While a business may be lawful in the international setting, this does not mean that the laws were up to the moral standards in which the bank originates. For example, extensive pollution and labor laws that would not be considered lawful in many developed countries are allowed in many lesser-developed countries.
's utilitarian ethical theory is that an action is of moral importance if it contributes to the overall happiness of all people.
Therefore, in Mill's perspective a bank would be moral if it tended "to promote happiness".(p. 10) If the conduct of the bank in question acts in way that produces the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest amount of people then it will be acting morally according to Mill. Because the banking sector is so large, complex and far-reaching in its effects it is difficult to judge the happiness of everyone affected by the conduct of banks in general or by certain banks in particular. However it is much easier to see how alternative conduct could produce and/or promote much greater happiness. For example through the act of generous philanthropy in forms such as giving back to communities, employees, members, environmental/development groups, etc. could increase happiness. Similarly lending to businesses that do not "produce the reverse of happiness"(p. 10) by, for example, giving to businesses that treat employees fairly and are concerned with such public goods as the environment would also be considered ethical according to Mill. Given that things such as global warming, air pollution, water contamination, and soil pollution negatively affect large groups of the population, if not all of the population (in the case of global warming), banks that chose to partake in the above examples could be viewed as contributing to the overall happiness of all people and would hence have moral value.
's Categorical Imperative
, morality lies in actions not in outcomes. With this knowledge one could propose that the act of lending money is not in and of itself immoral and according to Kant's perspective banks should not be judged as moral or immoral based on the outcomes of their lending. However the second formulation of Kant's categorical imperative states: "act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end" (pg. 66–67). Based on this formula one could argue that unethical lending on the part of banks either commercially (to corporations that will likely incur losses because they act in a fashion that will soon be unlawful, e.g. pollute excessively, use child labour, etc.) or to individuals (who, for example, would be financially unable to repay the loan, ex. the American mortgage crisis today) is treating its clients as merely means for financial gain rather than as ends in themselves. This interpretation portrays banks that lend without screening their clients to see if they would be supporting practices or purchases that would ultimately lead to the clients’ failure as unethical.
, lawfulness is important in the measurement of morality, as is equality and justice. Whether an action is or is not in accordance with the law is an important measurement of morality for Aristotle. Many banks do business in accordance with the law in all practices. They may also specifically seek to do business with law-abiding clients. Nevertheless this can be problematic, as laws vary internationally. This means that a bank could be viewed as ethical even while funding clients who lawfully conduct business in harmful manners. However this measurement is challenged by Aristotle's statement: "what is just in transactions is something equitable, and what is unjust is something inequitable" (p. 84). This means that a bank needs to take into account the unjust/inequitable behavior of its borrowers to qualify as an ethical bank. For example, lending to a law-abiding corporation that does not pay its employees a sufficient living wage would be immoral.
. He argues that putting standards and regulations in place that rest on the basic morals of society should not conflict with the free market, but are actually an important part of the proper functioning of the free market. His conclusion is based on statements made by Adam Smith
. When Smith first envisioned the market economy, he did not divorce morals from the market. In fact, morals were supposed to be a natural part of the workings of the market economy. He believed that economic transactions should be the result of mutual agreement and should involve morality and friendship. He stated that selfishness could obstruct the market economy from running morally. If interpersonal relationships did not play a part, then the interdependency experienced by individuals could vanish and unfair play based on greed and mistrust would exist. Bruyn discusses today's society as one that has lost its basic morals in the market. He states that there is a need for a reigniting of civil society. Originally, civil society was assumed to be naturally able to regulate the morality of the market, but with the great distances between individuals involved in transactions as time has passed, governments became the prime regulators of morality in economic exchanges. In recent history governments have been pressured to stop interfering in the economy. This has allowed bodies such as corporations, which operate immorally or at best amorally, to create extremely damaging outcomes without legal or societal penalty. Bruyn promotes the resurrection of civil society, calling society to demand fair practices and to regulate the morality of the economy. One way people could influence civil society would be to act as economic regulators by choosing to do business with banks that do not finance corporations such as the aforementioned.
Ayn Rand
on the other hand claimed that all the evils, abuses, and iniquities, popularly ascribed to businessmen and to capitalism, were not caused by an unregulated economy or by a free market, but by government intervention into the economy.
s are not banks but they offer many of the same services as banks (e.g. investment opportunities, commercial and business loans, checking & savings accounts, etc.). Credit unions are member-owned rather than shareholder
-owned. This gives each member more influence in the decision-making process. When a credit union has surplus, the profit
s made will either be invested into the community or will go back to the members in the form of "patronage rebates" (i.e. cheques). Credit unions focus on the members because they are also the owners, and on the communities in which they are situated. Credit unions put a higher focus on local community development than banks do. Most credit unions lend strictly to people and businesses in the community where the union is located. This fact leads credit unions to affect communities more positively than regular banks.
However, credit unions do not necessarily have the same potential to cause widespread change in business practices as ethical banks do. This is because credit unions largely avoid the problem of funding unethical corporate/business activities by focusing on funding local businesses, which are easier to monitor and arguably less capable of generating wide-reaching social and environmental benefit.
(Bangladesh), GLS Bank (Germany), Merkur Bank (Denmark), Mibanco (Peru), New Resource Bank (USA), ShoreBank (USA), Triodos Bank and XacBank (Mongolia). New Resources Bank (San Francisco, CA).
Corporate social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model...
, and is also related to such movements as the fair trade
Fair trade
Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards...
movement, ethical consumerism
Ethical consumerism
Ethical consumerism is the intentional purchase of products and services that the customer considers to be made ethically. This may mean with minimal harm to or exploitation of humans, animals and/or the natural environment...
, boycotting, etc. Ethical banking is a juvenile sector within this movement. 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.
History
Historically banks have been viewed solely as financial institutions, which should concern themselves with all things financial. Morality has not entered the equation. This public view has allowed banks significant leeway with concern to ethical standards. This is because they have not been associated with the actions taken by the businesses they lend to. Banks have also stated that a reason for not mounting the new challenges that sustainability presents is that such inspection would require interference in the activities of clients. However with changing social demands, and as more is known about the effects that banks can have through their lending policies, banks have begun to feel pressure from the general public, NGOs, governments, and the like to go beyond conventional business management. For example in the mid 1990s the Cooperative Bank asked 6,000 customers what their thoughts were on ethical banking; 84% responded that it was a good idea. In fact the cooperative bank was formed in response to the growing consumer base looking for ethically oriented banks.The potential for banks to create environmentally and socially conscious business practices
In general all banks play an intermediary role in the economy; because of this the possibility for banks to contribute to sustainable development is potentially profound. Banks have extensive and efficient credit approval systems, which gives them a comparative advantage in knowledge (regarding sector-specific information, legislation and market developments). Banks are well seasoned and well equipped to weigh risks and attach a price to these risks; because of this banks can fulfill an important role in reducing the information asymmetry between market parties, for example between the business and consumers. This is important not just to consumers but also to depositors. When depositors allow a bank to invest for them they are able to assume that the bank will know which investments will maximize their returns. Conventional banks are legally bound to maximize return for their clients. If clients are concerned with more than simple return (i.e. the costs of the return on other areas such as society and the environment) then they may need to turn to an ethical bank to find ways in which they can garner return while keeping to their own moral concerns.Some businesses externalize costs onto the environment and society. An example of this would be water pollution. A wood mill, for example, could dump its waste into a local river instead of paying to dispose of it properly. This cost is then put onto to the public who uses this water; the costs could come in the form of poor health or as a cost to the local water treatment plant. In order to create more equitable distribution of costs amongst consumers, the environment, and businesses, banks can raise interest rates or apply tariffs on loans given to clients with high environmental risks. This tariff differentiation by banks will stimulate the internalization of environmental costs in market prices. Meaning that companies would pay more if their business caused extensive environmental damage; taking some of the cost off of society as a whole and putting it on the company. Through such price differentiation, banks have the potential to foster sustainability. This potential would be determined by the extent to which all banks worked in unison to create similar regulations that would result in the loss of access loans that treat the environment and/or society as an externality.
Through their intermediary role, banks may be able to support progress toward sustainability by society as a whole—for example, by adopting a ‘carrot-and-stick’ approach, where environmental and social front-runners would pay less interest than the market price for borrowing capital, while environmental laggards would pay a much higher interest rate. Banks can also develop more sustainable products, such as environmental, social, or ethical investment funds. In addition, there is great scope for banks to improve their internal environmental performance. In creating environmental and social screens, banks can promote socially/environmentally-geared companies and penalize those who do not conform to these standards. However it is important that these different possibilities (i.e. social/environmental screens, ethical products, and internal environmental practices) be used as a package. If not, there is a danger that banks could simply do the things that make them look the most ethical (i.e. advertise their recycling program) while not changing other areas that would have a larger impact. If the changes are solely driven by customers, the bank will be pressured to offer preferential treatment to what depositors deem as desirable, but will have limited ability to punish undesirable action. Governmental regulation, initiated by an informed and involved public would be an effective way to ensure that all banks follow socially accepted morals and ethics.
Ethical initiatives
Numerous ethical banks (as well as some conventional banks) create initiates that allow the banker to contribute to organizations that have positive societal/environmental impacts either in the local community or in developing countries. For example the Cooperative Bank (UK) offers customers "a free Home Energy Rating on all house purchases, enabling them to better understand how energy efficient a property is and how to make improvements. Additionally, all of the bank's mortgages include carbon-offset features. Every year that a customer holds a mortgage the bank offsets a fifth of the carbon dioxide emissions arising from a typical household's energy consumption. Following customer consultation, 2003 offset monies were used for reforestation in Uganda, a Bangladesh project which trains local people to build energy efficient stoves and a Bulgaria project supporting micro-hydro electricity generation." Whereas the Citizens Bank (Canada) allows its customers to choose between a variety of VISA cards that benefit Oxfam Canada, Amnesty International or their philanthropic Shared Interest program by donating $0.10 to not-for-profit initiatives worldwide every time their VISA card is used. This enabled Citizens Bank to donate $24,800 to Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières in 2007.These are only a few of the wide range of services available at different ethical banks. Many also have lower interest rate loans for low emission cars (ex. of low emission car initiative put forth by Citizens Bank).
Community involvement
Ethical banks excel in community involvement, as do other financial institutions such as credit unions. Community involvement is not limited to ethical banks as conventional banks also partake in such actions. The following are a few examples of community involvement done by ethical banks, credit unions, and conventional banks:- Affordable housing projects (ex. Vancity & Citizens bank)
- Many banks/credit unions try to increase financial literacy in the community
- Give local scholarships & sponsorships.
- Financially support community events (for ex. each year TD Canada trust donates to a local cause).
Environmental standards for lending
Environment is a key focus amongst ethical banks (in this field specially called sustainability or green banks) as well as amongst many conventional banks that wish to appear more ethically oriented or that see switching to more environmental practices to be to their advantage. Some view this move as green washing.In general bankers "consider themselves to be in a relatively environmentally friendly industry (in terms of emissions and pollution). However, given their potential exposure to risk, they have been surprisingly slow to examine the environmental performance of their clients. A stated reason for this is that such an examination would ‘require interference’ with a client's activities." While the desire to not meddle in the business of the client is valid, one could also note that banks are required to interfere in the business of their clients regularly to ensure that the clients’ business plan is viable before issuing them a loan. The kind of analysis that all banks partake in is termed a single bottom line
Bottom Line
The Bottom Line was a music venue at 15 West Fourth Street between Mercer Street and Greene Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City...
analysis (this analysis only considers financial performance). It is arguable whether or not performing a triple bottom line
Triple bottom line
The triple bottom line captures an expanded spectrum of values and criteria for measuring organizational success: economic, ecological, and social...
analysis (an analysis that takes into account environmental, social, and financial performance) would be any more intrusive.
Internal vs. external banking ethics
Conventional banks deal with mostly internal ethics, ethical banks add to internal concerns by applying external ethics.Internal ethics: processes in banks
Internal ethics are concerned with the well being of employees, employee and customer satisfaction, benefits, wages, unionization, fair sex and race representation, and the banks environmental standing. Environmentally the potential combined effect of banks switching to more environmentally friendly practices (i.e. less paper use, less electrical use, solar power, energy efficient light bulbs, more conscientious employee travel policies with concern to commuting and air travel) is huge. However when compared with many other sectors of the economy banks do not incur the same burden of energy, water and paper use. Many times such energy efficient changes are not based on moral concern but on cost efficiency.External ethics: products of the banks’ relationships/products
External ethics are concerned with the wider ramifications of banks actions. External ethics looks at the impacts that their business practices, such as who they loan to or invest in, will have on society and the environment. In applying external ethics, one looks at how the products of banks can be used unethically, for example how borrowers use the money that is lent out by the bank.Discussion
In general banks are reluctant to broaden the scope of their external ethics policies because it would require that the bank interfere with the activities of its clients and/or screen its potential clients. External ethics can be seen as much more important than internal ethics because the potential that the bank has internally to cause huge societal or environmental damage is minimal whereas many companies that banks fund have great potential to cause widespread damage. Internal ethics, such as switching to energy efficient light bulbs, are relatively insignificant if the bank is, for example, simultaneously funding the unsustainable harvest of natural resources.Ethical banking is a relatively new sector; along with this fact come problems. These problems fall under two categories; the first concerns depositors, and the second concerns ethical banks.
In the first category lies the problem of really knowing how ethical banks measure or qualify their ethical policies. For example when Vancity/Citizen Bank states ‘we seek to work with organizations that demonstrate a commitment to ethical business practices,’ the depositor is unable to understand what ‘seek’ means. These statements sound nice but they do not tell potential depositors how the bank evaluates or uses these statements. This is insufficient. Even when given the opportunity to view an accountability report it is difficult to truly understand what their screening processes are. For example, the Van City Accountability Report for 2006/07 (for Van City credit union and Citizens Bank in Canada)states,
"the Ethical Policy requires that all business accounts are screened at the time of account opening by the staff person dealing with the member. Social and environmental risks of larger business banking loans (non-credit-scored loans) are assessed at the time of the loan application, guided by the Ethical Policy and Lending Policies."
This statement does not give the reader the information s/he needs to understand the criteria used in assessing clients. However statistics such as that given by the Cooperative Bank (UK), stating that in 2003 they reviewed 225 potentially problematic financial opportunities and of these 20% were found to be in conflict with their ethical statements and were subsequently denied further business, costing the bank 6,887,000 pounds, give the consumer the impression that the banks’ proposed ethics, however ambiguous, are being taken seriously.
Another issue in this category is that of codes. Many ethical banks as well as conventional banks voluntarily join larger bodies that put forth certain regulations that, according to the rules set by the body, should be followed by members. Such outside bodies could act as overarching institutions that could guarantee a certain level of conformance with certain regulations. An example of this in the United States is the Food and Drug Administration. Under the FDA consumers can feel confident buying food and drugs because they know that they have to pass certain standards to be available to the public. Depositors who use ethical banks do not have this assurance because there is no external regulatory body that sets minimum acceptable legal standards.
In the second category ethical banks face obstacles such as losing business and consumer support to conventional banks, and having to regulate above and beyond the present international legal systems.
According to Cowton, C. J., and P. Thompson, "banks that had signed the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Statement, a voluntary industry code that promulgated environmental stewardship, transparency, and sustainable development, did not act significantly different than the non-signatories." They concluded that, for codes to be more effective; regulators, monitors, and methods of enforcement need to be in place. This problem is similar to the problems faced by the fair trade movement. Both the fair trade movement and ethical banks rely on people to pay extra for known ethical goods. There is a limit to how much more people will pay for that guarantee, after that point further initiatives will undercut the banks income and therefore are likely to not be followed.
Losing business to banks that do not screen so strictly is a problem for ethical banks. Many times ethical banks must work with much lower budgets because of this. Ethical banks exclusion of unethical borrowers often results in the borrowers going to other banks, this brings up the importance of industry wide regulations. One way of raising the industry wide regulations would be for citizens to apply pressure on banks. Without this rise it is difficult to impede unethical businesses from finding a bank to finance their projects. A rise in regulations that deal with moral topics is not out of the question. The current industry wide codes, for example, prohibit the financing of illegal drug production. This reflects the prominent societal morals against such drugs.
Ethical banks cannot solely rely upon the legal system to determine whether or not a potential client has acted unethically or whether or not their future plans are unethical. This is because of the wide range of laws throughout the world. While a business may be lawful in the international setting, this does not mean that the laws were up to the moral standards in which the bank originates. For example, extensive pollution and labor laws that would not be considered lawful in many developed countries are allowed in many lesser-developed countries.
Judging what is ethical
Claiming to be an "ethical" bank requires an objective way to determine what is ethical. Popular ethical theories that could be used include those of Mill, Kant and Aristotle.John Stuart Mill
The premise of John Stuart MillJohn Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
's utilitarian ethical theory is that an action is of moral importance if it contributes to the overall happiness of all people.
Therefore, in Mill's perspective a bank would be moral if it tended "to promote happiness".(p. 10) If the conduct of the bank in question acts in way that produces the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest amount of people then it will be acting morally according to Mill. Because the banking sector is so large, complex and far-reaching in its effects it is difficult to judge the happiness of everyone affected by the conduct of banks in general or by certain banks in particular. However it is much easier to see how alternative conduct could produce and/or promote much greater happiness. For example through the act of generous philanthropy in forms such as giving back to communities, employees, members, environmental/development groups, etc. could increase happiness. Similarly lending to businesses that do not "produce the reverse of happiness"(p. 10) by, for example, giving to businesses that treat employees fairly and are concerned with such public goods as the environment would also be considered ethical according to Mill. Given that things such as global warming, air pollution, water contamination, and soil pollution negatively affect large groups of the population, if not all of the population (in the case of global warming), banks that chose to partake in the above examples could be viewed as contributing to the overall happiness of all people and would hence have moral value.
Immanuel Kant
According to Immanuel KantImmanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
's Categorical Imperative
Categorical imperative
The Categorical Imperative is the central philosophical concept in the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant, as well as modern deontological ethics...
, morality lies in actions not in outcomes. With this knowledge one could propose that the act of lending money is not in and of itself immoral and according to Kant's perspective banks should not be judged as moral or immoral based on the outcomes of their lending. However the second formulation of Kant's categorical imperative states: "act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end" (pg. 66–67). Based on this formula one could argue that unethical lending on the part of banks either commercially (to corporations that will likely incur losses because they act in a fashion that will soon be unlawful, e.g. pollute excessively, use child labour, etc.) or to individuals (who, for example, would be financially unable to repay the loan, ex. the American mortgage crisis today) is treating its clients as merely means for financial gain rather than as ends in themselves. This interpretation portrays banks that lend without screening their clients to see if they would be supporting practices or purchases that would ultimately lead to the clients’ failure as unethical.
Aristotle
For AristotleAristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
, lawfulness is important in the measurement of morality, as is equality and justice. Whether an action is or is not in accordance with the law is an important measurement of morality for Aristotle. Many banks do business in accordance with the law in all practices. They may also specifically seek to do business with law-abiding clients. Nevertheless this can be problematic, as laws vary internationally. This means that a bank could be viewed as ethical even while funding clients who lawfully conduct business in harmful manners. However this measurement is challenged by Aristotle's statement: "what is just in transactions is something equitable, and what is unjust is something inequitable" (p. 84). This means that a bank needs to take into account the unjust/inequitable behavior of its borrowers to qualify as an ethical bank. For example, lending to a law-abiding corporation that does not pay its employees a sufficient living wage would be immoral.
Bank regulations and the free market
The argument against regulating banks is that the regulations would violate the proper functioning of the free market economy. Severyn T. Bruyn disputes this argument in his article "The Moral Economy". He states that the extreme disconnection between market actions and morals was never the intent of the market economy's founding thinkers, specifically Adam SmithAdam Smith
Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
. He argues that putting standards and regulations in place that rest on the basic morals of society should not conflict with the free market, but are actually an important part of the proper functioning of the free market. His conclusion is based on statements made by Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
. When Smith first envisioned the market economy, he did not divorce morals from the market. In fact, morals were supposed to be a natural part of the workings of the market economy. He believed that economic transactions should be the result of mutual agreement and should involve morality and friendship. He stated that selfishness could obstruct the market economy from running morally. If interpersonal relationships did not play a part, then the interdependency experienced by individuals could vanish and unfair play based on greed and mistrust would exist. Bruyn discusses today's society as one that has lost its basic morals in the market. He states that there is a need for a reigniting of civil society. Originally, civil society was assumed to be naturally able to regulate the morality of the market, but with the great distances between individuals involved in transactions as time has passed, governments became the prime regulators of morality in economic exchanges. In recent history governments have been pressured to stop interfering in the economy. This has allowed bodies such as corporations, which operate immorally or at best amorally, to create extremely damaging outcomes without legal or societal penalty. Bruyn promotes the resurrection of civil society, calling society to demand fair practices and to regulate the morality of the economy. One way people could influence civil society would be to act as economic regulators by choosing to do business with banks that do not finance corporations such as the aforementioned.
Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
on the other hand claimed that all the evils, abuses, and iniquities, popularly ascribed to businessmen and to capitalism, were not caused by an unregulated economy or by a free market, but by government intervention into the economy.
Differences from credit unions
Credit unionCredit union
A credit union is a cooperative financial institution that is owned and controlled by its members and operated for the purpose of promoting thrift, providing credit at competitive rates, and providing other financial services to its members...
s are not banks but they offer many of the same services as banks (e.g. investment opportunities, commercial and business loans, checking & savings accounts, etc.). Credit unions are member-owned rather than shareholder
Shareholder
A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or institution that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a public or private corporation. Shareholders own the stock, but not the corporation itself ....
-owned. This gives each member more influence in the decision-making process. When a credit union has surplus, the profit
Profit (accounting)
In accounting, profit can be considered to be the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market whatever it is that is accounted as an enterprise in terms of the component costs of delivered goods and/or services and any operating or other expenses.-Definition:There are...
s made will either be invested into the community or will go back to the members in the form of "patronage rebates" (i.e. cheques). Credit unions focus on the members because they are also the owners, and on the communities in which they are situated. Credit unions put a higher focus on local community development than banks do. Most credit unions lend strictly to people and businesses in the community where the union is located. This fact leads credit unions to affect communities more positively than regular banks.
However, credit unions do not necessarily have the same potential to cause widespread change in business practices as ethical banks do. This is because credit unions largely avoid the problem of funding unethical corporate/business activities by focusing on funding local businesses, which are easier to monitor and arguably less capable of generating wide-reaching social and environmental benefit.
List of ethical banks
- Charity BankCharity BankCharity Bank is bank and a charity based in the United Kingdom, with offices in Tonbridge, London and York.Charity Bank is a not-for-profit bank that only makes loans to charities and social enterprises....
, United Kingdom - Triodos BankTriodos BankTriodos Bank N.V. is a bank based in the Netherlands with branches in Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom and Spain. It is a pioneer in ethical banking. Triodos Bank finances companies which it thinks add cultural value and benefit both people and the environment...
, ZeistZeistZeist is a municipality and a town in the central Netherlands, located east of the city of Utrecht.-Population centres :*Austerlitz*Bosch en Duin*Den Dolder*Huis ter Heide*Zeist- The town of Zeist :...
, The Netherlands (also based in the UK, Belgium, Germany and Spain) - Co-operative BankCo-operative BankThe Co-operative Bank plc is a commercial bank in the United Kingdom and Guernsey, with its headquarters in Manchester.The bank markets itself as an ethical bank, and refuses to invest in companies involved in the arms trade, global climate change, genetic engineering, animal testing and use of...
, United Kingdom - Reliance BankReliance BankFormerly known as The Salvation Army Bank, Reliance Bank Limited was founded in 1890 by William Booth. When he needed to attract investments to finance mortgages on property vital to the work of the movement, his response was to set up the Army's own bank....
, United Kingdom - ShoreBankShoreBankShoreBank was a community development bank founded and headquartered in Chicago. At the time of its closing it was the oldest and largest such institution, and in 2008 had $2.6 billion in assets. It was owned by ShoreBank Corporation, a regulated bank holding company.ShoreBank had branches in...
, USA - RSF Social FinanceRSF Social FinanceRSF Social Finance, located in San Francisco, California, is a non-profit financial services organization offering investing, lending, and philanthropic services to individuals and enterprises with a deep commitment to improving the well-being of society and environment. RSF has over one thousand...
, San Francisco and New York, USA - Shared InterestShared InterestShared Interest Society Limited is a fair trade financial co-operative based in the United Kingdom formed in 1990. Today it provides credit and financial services to fair trade producers, retailers, importers and exporters throughout the world. Shared Interest works with both Fairtrade Labelling...
, based in the United Kingdom, investing throughout the developing and developed world - Cultura Bank, Norway
- GLS bankGLS bankThe GLS Bank is a German bank that was founded in 1974 as an anthroposophical initiative. It was the first bank in Germany that operated with an ethical philosophy. According to GLS Bank, its focus is on cultural, social and ecological initiatives, initiated by people, and not anonymous interests...
, Germany - EthikBank, Germany
- MagNet Community Bank, Hungary
- JAK members bankJAK members bankThe JAK Members Bank, or JAK Medlemsbank, is a cooperative, member-owned financial institution based in Skövde, Sweden. JAK is an acronym for Jord Arbete Kapital in Swedish or Land Labour Capital....
, Sweden, interest-free bank - Citizens BankCitizens Bank of CanadaCitizens Bank of Canada is a British Columbia, Canada-based virtual bank owned by Vancouver City Credit Union . From 1997 until 2009 Citizens Bank offered personal and business banking services over the internet...
, Canada - Crédit coopératif and NEF, France
- The Alternative Bank Schweiz, Switzerland
- Banca Etica, Italy
- Umweltbank, Germany
- Prometheus, New Zealand
Global Alliance for Banking on Values
It is composed by Alternative Bank ABS (Switzerland), Banca Popolare Etica (Italy), Banex-Banco del Exito (Nicaragua), BRAC BankBRAC Bank
BRAC Bank is the last organization to have received a commercial banking license from Bangladesh Bank, making it the youngest private commercial bank in Bangladesh. Its headquarters are based in the capital Dhaka...
(Bangladesh), GLS Bank (Germany), Merkur Bank (Denmark), Mibanco (Peru), New Resource Bank (USA), ShoreBank (USA), Triodos Bank and XacBank (Mongolia). New Resources Bank (San Francisco, CA).
See also
- Carbon Disclosure ProjectCarbon Disclosure ProjectThe Carbon Disclosure Project is an organisation based in the United Kingdom which works with shareholders and corporations to disclose the greenhouse gas emissions of major corporations....
- Chris Van HollenChris Van HollenChristopher "Chris" Van Hollen, Jr. is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2003. He is a member of the Democratic Party...
- Clean Energy BankClean Energy BankClean Energy Bank , also called Clean Energy Investment Bank, is a proposed federal government corporation of the United States to assist in the financing, and facilitate the commercial use, of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies within the United States.The CEB could be created...
- Climate ethicsClimate ethicsClimate Ethics is a new and growing area of research that focuses on the ethical dimensions of climate change, and concepts such as climate justice....
- Corporate social responsibilityCorporate social responsibilityCorporate social responsibility is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model...
- Equator PrinciplesEquator PrinciplesThe Equator Principles are a voluntary set of standards for determining, assessing and managing social and environmental risk in project financing....
- National Venture Capital AssociationNational Venture Capital AssociationThe National Venture Capital Association is the leading trade association representing the venture capital industry in the U.S. The NVCA represents the venture industry in public policy debates in Washington, DC, and promotes high professional standards, professional development, and interaction...
- Socially responsible investingSocially responsible investingSocially responsible investing , also known as sustainable, socially conscious, or ethical investing, describes an investment strategy which seeks to consider both financial return and social good....
Further reading
- Ben Cohen and Mal Warwick, Values-Driven Business, ISBN 1-57675-358-1
- Christopher J. Cowton & Paul Thompson, "Do Codes Make a Difference? The Case of Bank Lending and the Environment", Journal of Business Ethics, v.24, n.2 (March 2000)
- Paul Thompsn & Christopher J. Cowton, "Bringing the Environment into Bank Lending: Implications for Environmental Reporting", British Accounting Review, v.36, n.2, pp. 197–218 (June 2004).