Ethical banking, a different way of development

"I honestly do not know what to do with my savings." Clara Fuentes is confused when asked about the work of banks with the money she has deposited in them. "I think they invest in projects”, but she could not tell what kind of projects they invest in. As Clara, the majority of citizens does not know, nor even think for just five minutes, on the action played by savings banks and bank branches with the money that they receive.

As reported by NGOs such as Oxfam Intermon, Setem or Copade, Governments "should investigate the behavior of banks and their economic power and, in many cases, the lack of public information for their actions, because it is very difficult to ascertain the actual role they play." These NGOs reported that "with our savings, banks are financing many projects that harm the environment or human communities." To combat these abuses, a new model of ethical banking was born.

SETEM is an NGO that disseminates to the public the work of ethical banking, which is also called social or alternative banking. According to David Lopez, vocal of Setem Fair Trade in Madrid, "it is a type of financial institution that combines the social and environmental benefits with economic benefits of the conventional financial institutions."

The fact, this form of banking is distinguished by "the transparency of its accounts and the funding of projects submitted by NGOs dealing with marginalized groups, businesses dedicated to improving the environment or co-production of fair trade ', for example, initiatives that improve the social environment.

In recent years ethical banking has come to Spain. Triodos Bank is a branch operating in our country. José Antonio Carbonell, territorial director of Andalusia assures that "in recent years this kind of bank has grown over 20%." The security of this growth is that "the money we invest our savingsin, is loaned to projects, initiatives, organizations and institutions that provide added value in terms of social, environmental or cultural."

The projects financed by this kind of banks become reality. In this way, José Antonio Carbonell stated that "in the city of Seville, Triodos Bank has opted for the culture through the promotion of dance with the Cultural Association for Dance and the construction of the Museum of Flamenco."

In addition, the company's web site notes that they do not forget the environment with projects like Riet Vell, a company that is responsible for producing organic rice in the Delta del Ebro; or those who do not have resources in the Third World countries through development cooperation projects, among others.

Eduardo Galeano said that "to act on reality, even a little change is the only way to prove that it is transformable." Ethical banks have acted on this reality and it has be shown to have changed. Now it is up to the society, which is used to deposit their savings in the institution that offers the best gifts and pays the greatest interest.

"As our behavior with money, how we act in the purchases and sales have consequences we are causing to our planet," Lee points out. We can choose between two ways of life: on one hand, traditional banking, the exploitation of people to get cheaper products, the consumption of food full of fertilizer, the waste of energy ... On the other hand, consuming products that are based on fair trade, protect the environment through renewable energy or respect the human rights of people such as "pay a living wage to all workers".

The decision is up to everyone. We can choose to bet or not in the impact of ethical banks in society and in the most vulnerable countries of our planet.