Purpose

I write a lot about purpose-driven banking, and many folks came back to me saying that what I had written sounded a lot like community banking. Community banks stand for something, they have a purpose and much of it is directed towards their members’ interests and the local community. And …

You’ve probably heard all you need to hear about Davos by now, so I won’t bore you with it much further … except for this. Much of the dialogue for the past year has been about climate change or climate emergency or climate action or whatever you want to call …

It’s a simple question: what is the purpose of a bank? However, the answers I get are often missing the mark, imho. I get answers like to fund business, to finance progress, to support government, to keep economies stable, to manage risk, to build communities, to allow people to be …

I’ve said on a number of occasions recently that banking and finance is at the heart of the climate crisis. Banks provide the financing for fossil fuel firms who are destroying the planet. The key numbers: Coal supplies a third of all energy worldwide, with the top coal consumers and producers in 2018 being China, …

Really interesting interview here with Ana Botin, Executive Chair of Santander, on Bloomberg. It starts with talking about how Santander can make a difference on climate change with Ana claiming that the bank is voted the most sustainable bank in the world. But when the interviewer, Erik Schatzker, asks her …

I’ve been reflecting for a while on the shift of power from America to China, as those who read my musings will know. This is typified by the latest Netflix offering American Factory, backed by the Obamas. It shows the cultural clash between East and West and the rise of …

I’m going to write the last of my blogs at this point on being purpose-driven to reference something that irks me a lot. Exclusivity. We have exclusivity a lot in life. The idea is that it creates ambition, hope, focus, hunger, direction and reward. We want the next airmile to …

During my writing about a purpose-driven bank, I tried to find good examples of what purpose-driven actually means. Googling the question the number one result is from the Plato Project, who outline eight great purpose-driven organisations. The list is: Whole Foods “With great courage, integrity and love,” reads the higher …