Social investment counts for just 1.4% of all UK business lending. So how can we get mainstream banks to play a much bigger role in the social economy? By changing the incentives – and therefore the culture – of banking, says the Big Issue Invest CEO.
"No sector has a monopoly on saints or scallywags." Rodney Schwartz, CEO of leading social investment organisation ClearlySo, contemplates both the harm done and progress made by ex-bankers in the social investment sphere.
Unity Trust Bank is on track to hit its three-year lending target of £100m by the end of 2015, according to its new Social Impact report, and aims "to become the go to bank for the civil society" in the UK.
George Osborne yesterday announced that £75m of fines imposed on UK banks will go to military charities. But community activists argue the money would be better invested in financial services for those excluded from mainstream banking sector.
Charities with ambitious trading plans and social enterprises looking to grow are the target of Santander's 2015 Social Enterprise Development Awards, worth up to £10,000.
Charity Bank has received official B Corporation accreditation, making it the sixth B Corporation in the UK and the first bank to be awarded the certification in Europe.
Would Nesta have funded the Grameen Bank and can Coca-Cola really be classed as a social innovator? Dr Andrew Curtis and Tara Anderson warn that social innovation might have lost its way.
The Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills today described his vision for the development of a responsible capitalist system at the UK's social investment conference Good Deals.
