Type Public, not listed Key people Peter Blom, CEO Net income €40.7 million (2015) Revenue 211.6 million EUR (2015) CEO Peter Blom (1989–) Assets under management 12.3 billion EUR (2015) | Industry Financial services Products Sustainable banking AUM €12.298 billion (2015) Headquarters Zeist, Netherlands Founded 1980, Netherlands Subsidiaries Triodos Bank UK | |
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Founders Rudolf Mees, Lex Bos, Dieter Brüll, Adriaan Deking Dura Profiles | ||
Testimonial video triodos bank belgium
Triodos Bank N.V. is a bank based in the Netherlands with branches in Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom and Spain. It claims to be a pioneer in ethical banking. Triodos Bank finances companies which it thinks add cultural value and benefit both people and the environment. That includes companies in the fields of solar energy, organic farming or culture. The name Triodos is derived from the Greek "τρὶ ὁδος - tri hodos," meaning "three-way approach" (people, planet, profit). Triodos Bank's balance sheet was worth EUR 5.3 billion by the end of 2012. It is influenced by the anthroposophical movement.
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Savers can open conventional savings accounts, as well as ethical funds and venture capital. Triodos also has an active international department, supporting microfinance initiatives across the developing world. Triodos is the only commercial bank in the UK to provide an annual list of all the loans the bank has made.
In 1980 Triodos launched the first "green fund", a fund for environmentally friendly projects, on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. Friends of the Earth in the Netherlands claims that transferring 10,000 euros in savings from a "climate laggard" such as ABN Amro to Triodos will effectively result in a carbon dioxide emissions saving equivalent to what would be achieved by not driving a car for six months. The bank compensates 100% of its own CO2 emissions.
Triodos took over the British ethical bank Mercury Provident in 1994. As of the end of 2012, Triodos Bank had more than 437,000 customers. About half of these are in the Netherlands, and a quarter in Spain.
The bank was founded as an anthroposophical initiative. The bank's statutes were committed to anthroposophical principles until 1999, but in later years, the bank has broadened its appeal.
The bank operations and customer relations are mainly based on the web, but adapt to local customs. In Spain, for example, physical offices are preferred by the clients and therefore several commercial offices have been opened in the major towns.
Positive Screening
Triodos is unusual in that it only lends to businesses and charities judged to be of social or ecological benefit. This "positive screening" extends its policies beyond those of ethical banks which solely avoid investing in companies judged to be doing harm ("negative screening"). The bank uses money deposited by close to 100,000 savers and lends it to hundreds of organisations, such as fair trade initiatives, organic farms, cultural and arts initiatives, renewable energy projects, and social enterprises.
Negative Screening
"[Triodos] does not lend to organisations, businesses and projects that are directly involved for more than 5% of its activities in non-sustainable products and services or non-sustainable working processes. Triodos Bank will however, to the best of its knowledge, exclude all organisations, businesses and activities that produce or distribute nuclear energy, weapons and environmentally hazardous substances"
Transparency
Triodos "publish details of every organisation [they] lend to, and invest in"