Leaders of a world group on sustainable banking said on Saturday they had committed to building a different and positive financial future for the banking industry across the globe.
"Fighting poverty will remain the first priority for the banking sector in the foreseeable future," Fazle Hasan Abed, co-founder of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV), told reporters.
As the world grapples with a financial crisis, GABV, an independent network of 11 banks has been meeting in Bangladesh.
The alliance, which says it represents 7 million customers in 20 countries with a combined balance sheet of more than $14 billion, said it supported the expansion of $2 billion in lending to communities not served by banks and green projects around the world.
"Climate change is the other growing global threat that the banking industry has to commit itself to," said Abed, who is also chair of the BRAC, the world's largest non-government micro-financing agency.
The Dhaka meeting aims to raise $250 million in new capital.
"Raising this money will result in $2 billion in new lending, at a time when credit continues to be scare," said Peter Blom, chair and co-founder of the GABV and chief executive officer of Triodos Bank in the Netherlands.
Comments