e3bank was recently featured as a green investment in our green investing newsletter, Progressive Investor.
|
At a time when people have lost faith in financial institutions, there's a push toward taking your money out of banks that are "too big to fail" and re-investing it in community banks and credit unions. Besides everything you've heard about the big banks during the past year, most have miserable environmental and social records, and finance environmentally destructive projects like coal plants.
Among the hundreds of community banks are a handful of green community banks, all of which offer you "banking with your values" by investing in local communities, offering personal relationships, and often better interest rates on checking accounts. They channel your funds into projects that build healthy communities, helping small businesses and investing in affordable housing.
Thanks to electronic banking you can deposit and move funds with any bank, anywhere. Keep the minimum amount necessary for a free checking or savings account at a conventional bank that has lots of ATM machines. Or write a check from your community bank to the conventional bank once a month to cover your cash needs. Most credit cards are issued by the mega-banks - you can also switch those to support your social values.
In March, the Global Alliance for Banking on Values was launched by 11 of the world's leading sustainable banks. The banks, which have assets of over $10 billion and serve over seven million customers in 20 countries, are working together to build a positive alternative to the global financial system.
Banks include BRAC Bank - part of the BRAC Group, the world's largest microfinance institution - ShoreBank, a community bank based in Chicago, and Triodos Bank, Europe's leading sustainable bank.
Speaking at the launch, Peter Blom, CEO of Triodos Bank, said, "Unlike their enormous mainstream contemporaries, these banks are profitable, growing and crisis resistant. When it was unfashionable to do so they stuck to simple, core banking services that balance people, planet and profit."
Green Banks
San Francisco-based New Resource Bank opened in 2005, making green loans available for projects that conventional banks won't finance, such as their solar home equity financing loan. Their fixed-term solar certificates of deposit help fund solar projects in the state. Last year, First Green Bank of Florida completed its fundraising in just five weeks and closed its first year with $80 million in assets and profits that exceeded expectations. They're close to breaking ground on their LEED platinum headquarters. Common Good Bank is working on an innovative community network structure, beginning in western Massachusetts.
e3bank is poised to open as a community bank in the greater Philadelphia region. Small and large investors alike can buy shares in the bank - a first for the U.S. banking industry. Individual investors can buy shares for as little as $5,000 as part of e3's mission to democratize banking by creating diverse, grassroots ownership.
Headquartered in a Philadelphia suburb, customers will be able to reach the bank via mass transit, but they'll be able to do virtually all business online, keeping e3's environmental footprint and operating costs low. Customers will be able to scan deposits online, use digital signatures to sign loans and chat online with bank associates via webcams.
