Money Moral Dilemma: Should I switch to a greener bank?

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  • TessaC
    TessaC Posts: 1 Newbie
    For sure, I just switched to Triodos for my savings and will be switching my current account soon too. Whoever above mentioned you should be more interested in if it is still going to be around in 50 years time- at the current rate a habitable planet wont be around in 50 years time, so its a bit of a moot point. Companies listen to their consumers, thats how they make their money, so switching to green/ethical is going to send them all a message. ethicalconsumer.org is a fab site for choosing which companies to use, it looks at all their impacts; green, workers, investments etc so you wont have to worry that you are merely shifting your impact somewhere else. The people who say its hogwash can have fun telling their grandkids why they live in a burning hell hole when they are adults!
  • SNOWIE
    SNOWIE Posts: 5
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    no, green/renewables are all a scam simply to make some people very wealthy and we all have to pay for it
  • Where money is invested and who it is lent to is an important part of consumer power. As someone above has said, it's a question of what you can and can't live with - knowing that your money is being used for bed ends.

    Divestment from fossil fuels is part of the bigger picture of moving to a sustainable world, and it pains me that my Teachers Pension money is probably invested unethically.
  • Cadgfly
    Cadgfly Posts: 1 Newbie
    Absolute hogwash being posted here.

    Trying to equate the car usage of a bank manager, and the number of electric tills per branch, against the history-shaping power of a banking loans of billions upon billions to fossil fuel companies, is at best daft and at worst active obfuscating stupidity.

    Of course you should change banks if you are concerned about what is done with your money. All banks have their ethical credentials checked and verified. Same goes for Building Socieities, investment funds and any other financial institution or product, as all places the money goes needs a trail. If you don't want to help fund fracking, oil exploration etc, you can and should do so.

    To say it's a) not real and green funds/banks is real or fake or a scam, is wrong and should be ignored. To say b) no banks do this really and they use so much energy/fuel as to make it irrelevant where they invest your money, is so daft it hardly bears scrutiny.

    Take 5mins to investigate the ethical rankings of banks and you'll get some clear options, and very simple methods to switch your accounts.
  • 1961Nick
    1961Nick Posts: 2,045
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    With respect to previous posters, I'd suggest that the primary concern should be that your money is invested safely, and secondly that you understand the risks associated with the investment you are undertaking.
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  • Sure they are. All a scam.
    You have no idea how far back my eyes have just rolled.
    The campaign against overpowering signatures
  • I have been with the Co-Op bank for decades, purely because of their ethical stance. I'm sure they aren't perfect - who is? - but for many many years they have done their best to avoid being involved in as many unethical practices and investments as possible. In 30+ years I have never had a problem with their banking services, and they are friendly and knowledgeable over the phone if I have contacted them with a query. And no, I don't work for them or am on commission!
  • Absolutely you should - otherwise you are complicit. Martyn's tips are great, but other things than financial value are more important. The firms that provide great service to customers may well be more morally suspect than one that scores less well. We must research where we are putting our money. I only ever invest ethically, with the help of an Ethical Investor adviser. I encourage you to please do the same.
  • crmism
    crmism Posts: 300
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    While I understand your concern, I think it would be advisable to write to your bank and ask why it has invested in a company which you personally look upon as unethical, as there might be a valid reason it has done so.

    A few institutional investors maintain stakes in businesses where ethics are in question, often to use their vote to persuade the boards to change their thinking and move towards greener projects. Don't hold your breath, though, as most fund managers are driven entirely by year-end performance and their annual bonuses, sacrificing ethics for growth no matter what the cost to the planet.

    The good thing is that you have the power and choice to do as you please with your own money and, with interest rates as low as they are, you're unlikely to lose much by switching to another bank.
  • We found out that our old bank Natwest was committing fraud - it's part of RBS and they were bailed out previously - to try and get out of the red they decided a good way was to pretend to help smaller businesses, they take them over, fraudulently sign all their assets over to themselves and sell them off to other dodgy people for a fraction of their value.

    People have lost millions, some have lost their homes and many have committed suicide - Noel Edmonds was one person involved in this fraud and he's fought back and is planning to take them to court because the police won't touch it?!

    So when I found out about all of this, I checked Nationwide was ok, decided it was and transferred our account to them.

    I cannot believe what is going on with some banks now, the corrupt conservatives are fully aware but refuse to do anything, some of them are profiteering from this
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