The idea behind Banca Etica consists in creating a place where savers, driven by the common desire of a more transparent and responsible management of financial resources, may meet socio-economic initiatives, inspired by the values of a sustainable social and human development.
The bank manages savings raised from private citizens, as singles or families, organisations, companies and institutions in general, and invests them in initiatives pursuing both social and economic objectives, operating in full respect of human dignity and the environment.
In such context Banca Etica sets out to educate both savers and borrowers by enhancing the awareness of the formers about their saving's destination, and encouraging the latter to develop their management and entrepreneurial abilities.
Banca Etica does not set out to reject the basic rules of finance, but it rather seeks to reform its main values.
THE PRINCIPLES
The principles which inspired Banca Etica's incorporation, and which today distinguish and characterise its everyday work, are stated in article 5 of its Articles of Association:
The Company adopts the following principles of Ethical Finance:
ethically oriented finance is aware of non economic consequences of economic actions;
access to finance, in all its forms, is a human right;
efficiency and soberness are components of ethical responsibility;
profit produced by the ownership and exchange of money must come from activities oriented towards common well-being and shall have to be equally distributed among all subjects which contribute to its realisation;
maximum transparency of all operations is one of the main conditions of all ethical finance activities;
the active involvement of shareholders and savers in the company's decision making process must be encouraged;
each organisation which accepts and adheres to the principles of ethical finance undertakes to inspire its entire activity to such principles.