About Us
Banca Etica is a cooperative bank that operates in Italy and Spain. It was established thanks to the commitment of a number of individuals and organizations who joined forces to create a credit institution based on Ethical Finance principles: transparency, participation, sobriety, efficiency and attention to the non-economic consequences of economic actions.
Its democratic management and ethical approach are ensured by the fact that its members freely participate according to the “one head, one vote” principle: all shareholders have the same right to vote in the General Assembly, irrespective of the number of shares they own. Thanks to the accumulated savings, Banca Etica funds projects aimed at welfare, social economy, environmental protection, innovation, international cooperation and culture. This information is verifiable: Banca Etica is the only bank in Italy that publishes all its loans on its website.
Banca Etica offers the main banking products and services, and a different banking experience founded on relationships: the focus on people and organizations is guaranteed by a network of bank branches and financial advisors all over Italy, in addition to complete online service accessible to all clients. Ninety groups of volunteer members work to ensure the development of local relations, promoting the Ethical Finance culture and the possibility of actively participating in an economic democracy project.
Our History: Over 25 years of finance for peace, people, and the environment
A collective history
The origins of Banca Etica – the first and still the only Italian bank entirely dedicated to ethical finance – lie in a shared project involving volunteers, aid workers, pacifists, and environmentalists belonging to a diverse movement of organizations, both secular and religious, mostly operating in the third sector. These organizations, which generate value, including economic value, based on strong political and social principles, needed recognition and a consistent financial partner. It was this urgent need that led to the creation of the Cooperativa Verso la Banca Etica (Towards Ethical Banking Cooperative) in 1994, with the aim of raising the minimum share capital required to establish a cooperative bank. Thanks to the exceptional efforts of thousands of people and 18 founding member organizations, the dream became a reality: on May 30, 1998, the transition from cooperative to cooperative bank was ratified – an event that was undoubtedly unique in Italy and extraordinary even on an international level – and on March 8, 1999, once authorization had been granted by the Bank of Italy, the first branch opened in Padua, marking the start of operations. In short, Banca Etica is the collective story of a community that founded “a bank to which it could relate” in terms of values. A bank that has grown in numbers and in the range of solutions it offers its customers, reaching the milestone of its first 25 years of activity in 2024.
About us
Thanks to its home and mobile banking services, branches throughout Italy and Spain – where Fiare Banca Etica operates – and a network of ethical finance advisors across the country, Banca Etica protects the savings of responsible organizations and citizens and uses them to provide credit to individuals and to finance projects aimed exclusively at collective well-being. The Banca Etica Group, of which Banca Etica is the parent company, includes several entities. Etica Sgr, the first and only Italian asset management company that establishes and manages exclusively ethical mutual funds, representing the values of ethical finance in the financial markets; Cresud, which offers financial resources and assistance services to microfinance organizations, fair trade producers, associations, and NGOs in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The Banca Etica network also includes Fondazione Finanza Etica and the Spanish Fundación Finanzas Éticas, which promote critical shareholding initiatives as well as research and awareness-raising on critical financial education. Banca Etica is a member of the main international ethical finance networks: the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV) and the European Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks (Febea).
The Group’s values and activities
The Banca Etica Group acts in full compliance, in accordance with its statutes and mission, with the principles of “ethical finance,” on which it bases all its activities, products, and services. Banca Etica’s credit policies and financial products refuse to finance sectors that are harmful to ecosystems and communities (weapons, fossil fuels and polluting energies, intensive farming, etc.). Banca Etica exclusively supports activities and projects that promote peace, culture, environmental protection, international cooperation, and social inclusion. In particular, projects related to welfare; energy efficiency and energy production from renewable sources; environmental protection; production and marketing of organic products; international cooperation, microfinance, ethical and solidarity finance; socio-cultural activities; fair trade and economic entities with a strong social connotation, such as organizations that manage assets confiscated from the mafia; social enterprises. Banca Etica monitors the social and environmental impact of every euro disbursed in an annual public report and, in full transparency, makes the list of its loans available online. In order to interpret changes in the sectors of employment, in a constantly evolving global context, guidelines and strategies are defined and updated with the support of an authoritative Ethics Committee.
The founding members
ACLI (Associazioni Cristiane Lavoratori Italiani), AGESCI (Associazione Guide e Scout Cattolici Italiani), ARCI (Associazioni Ricreative Culturali Italiane), Ass. Botteghe del Commercio Equo Solidale, Ass. Italiana Agricoltura Biologica, CGM (Consorzio Gino Mattarelli), Cooperativa Oltremare, Cooperazione Terzo Mondo, CtmMag (attuale Consorzio Etimos), Emmaus Italia, Europe Conservation, Fiba-Cisl Brianza, Gruppo Abele, Janus, Mag 2 Finance Milano, Mag 4 Piemonte Torino, Mag Venezia, Mani Tese, Overseas, Uisp, Ust-Cisl Brianza
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