Centre for Responsible Banking
We are delighted to announce the launch of our Centre for Responsible Banking, supporting our key aim to build a responsible and sustainable banking profession, which is accessible to all.
The Chartered Banker Institute (“The Institute”) was one of the first UK organisations to endorse the UN Principles for Responsible Banking, and the first in the World to launch a Certificate in Green and Sustainable Finance. We also support the wider attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Now, via the Centre for Responsible Banking, our members and others will be able to access all our resources relating to responsible and sustainable banking online. Through initiatives like these, the Institute continues to play a leading role in developing and embedding socially purposeful, responsible and professional banking by developing and supporting professional bankers throughout their careers.
As the leading global voice for responsible and sustainable banking, and with an advanced curriculum of learning content and professional qualifications, the Institute is uniquely placed to support employers to build employee awareness, knowledge and skills required now and for the future.
The Centre for Responsible Banking is also a crucial step towards the ‘Carney Test’ – set by former Bank of England governor Mark Carney – which implores financial institutions to take climate change into account when taking any financial decision.
Simon Thompson, chief executive of the Chartered Banker Institute commented: “We have always believed that the banking profession has a key societal role to play beyond a narrow, short-term focus on shareholder returns. This includes traditional aspects such as responsible lending to support individuals, families and businesses, and promoting financial education and inclusion and more recently environmental sustainability and the role of banking and finance in leading the net zero transition.
We launched the world’s first benchmark green finance qualification – the Certificate in Green and Sustainable Finance – in 2018, for example, were one of the first non-bank endorsers of the UN Principles for Responsible Banking, and have helped lead the development of the UK’s Green Finance Education Charter.
Responsible banking rests upon the shoulders of professional bankers – like the members of the Chartered Banker Institute – who approach the practice of banking with socially-purposeful, customer-focused ethical professionalism. Our Centre for Responsible Banking supports our members, and others, who wish to develop, demonstrate and apply their professional expertise in support of a more sustainable world.”