Triodos scoops up sustainable bank of year award
London, 11 June: Triodos Bank was last week named sustainable bank of the year, the first time a specialist ethical bank has won the annual award given out by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Financial Times. Standard Chartered was named runner up.

It was the first time Triodos has entered the awards – last year’s main award went to Banco Real, which has since been bought by Banco Santander.

James Vaccaro, Bristol-based managing director of investment banking in Triodos’ UK business, said: “We felt there was a … need for us to put ourselves in this time, because of what was happening in the outside world,” in terms of both the credit crunch and mainstreaming of sustainable banking.

“Now is the time that we have actually … got to push our message beyond what we can just do ourselves on our own,” Vaccaro added. “We need to be in a dialogue with others about how the entire financial system moves forward.”

The judging panel, co-chaired by Rachel Kyte, vice-president of business advisory services at the IFC, and John Willman, former UK business editor at the Financial Times, said that Triodos’ success during the financial crisis poses questions for broader banking: “Is this still niche? Is it boutique? Or is it the model for the future?

“Triodos has demonstrated the model’s potential, with average annual growth of 20% in the past 10 years, 25% growth in 2008, and €3.7 billion under management. This is consistent, cohesive performance. What Triodos has tried is something radically different and it appears to be working. If this isn’t the year when it’s been demonstrated that we need a new model, when is?”

Johan Frijns, co-ordinator of NGO network BankTrack, which is critical of the awards, said: “This was indeed the only sensible choice to make for the jury out of the shortlisted banks.” But he added: “This whole thing continues to be so surreal that we can’t take it serious anyway; it is a PR thing, with little substance.”

The judges said that runner-up Standard Chartered was the “clear leader” among the mainstream banks. Noting that the London and Hong Kong-headquartered bank does 90% of its business in emerging markets, the judges praised the bank for embedding governance and sustainability into its operations: “Standard Chartered is leveraging the banking platform to scale-up solutions to the world’s most pressing emerging market problems.”

Itaú Unibanco in Brazil took the title of emerging markets sustainable bank of the year. The judging panel said it has the potential to become “a regional powerhouse in sustainable banking”, with “innovative sustainability products, from renewable energy to microfinance delivered through mobile phones and the internet, backed by Itaú’s execution capability”.

Social sustainability, emerging markets and banking services for the global poor were high on the agenda again this year. At a conference held before the awards last week, Lars Thunell, chief executive of the IFC, said that the credit crunch and financial crises have a “human cost” and warned that the economy “can no longer rely on the US consumer to power global output”.

MicroEnsure won the title in the award’s newest category, achievement in basic  needs financing, for its weather index crop insurance, offering a safety net for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

Maryland, US-based Global Environment Fund was named sustainable investor of the year. The private equity fund has $1 billion in assets under management, investing in clean technology, emerging markets and sustainable forestry. The judges highlighted its forestry investments and noted it has a gross internal rate of return on investments of more than 36%.

Along with Kyte and Willman, the judging panel included Tessa Tennant, co-founder of the Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia, and Dave Harris, responsible investment manager at the FTSE Group.

The full list of winners and runners-up:

Sustainable Bank of the Year

Winner: Triodos Bank, Netherlands

Runner-up: Standard Chartered, UK

Emerging Markets Sustainable Bank of the Year

Winner: Itaú Unibanco, Brazil

Regional winner Africa/Middle East: Equity Bank, Kenya

Regional winner Asia: Industrial Bank, China

Regional winner Eastern Europe: Industrial Development Bank of Turkey  

Regional winner Latin America: Itaú Unibanco

Achievement in Basic Needs Financing

Winner: MicroEnsure, UK

Runner-up: Water Capital, Mexico

Achievement in Banking at the Bottom of the Pyramid

Winner: Root Capital, US

Runner-up: WIZZIT, South Africa

Sustainable Investor of the Year

Winner: Global Environment Fund, US

Runner-up: E+Co, US