Money talks - but who decides what it says?
It is a common question when we think about the necessary changes aimed at a more sustainable future that they should be organized from the bottom up (if from tomorrow no one would buy water sold in disposable plastic bottles, over time no one would be interested in its production) or from the top down (if from tomorrow everything manufacturers and distributors would launch their products on the market in degradable packaging, the customer would have no choice but to support sustainability with their consumption) could function meaningfully. Is there a good answer to this question, or should we think a little more deeply about the question itself?
The way to a greener future
How would our answer to the above question look if we replaced the word "or" with "and"? Just imagine: we, some people, start to consider the aspects of sustainability more thoroughly in our everyday decisions, while the same is done by those decision-makers whose value preferences depend significantly more than the often seemingly small decisions of several small people.
As a result of such a thought experiment, an image of a community can emerge before us, whose members make joint efforts towards a common goal, aiming at the same result. In the meantime, of course, we don't want to fall into the trap of naivety: we know exactly that in the end, most of the time, money will decide the conditions of production, production, and the distribution of resources.
But what do we know about this money? Who owns it, who decides about it, and what happens to it? And what can a community organized along similar values do on this front?
Learn about value-based banking!
The good news is that such a community already exists: the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV) i.e. the alliance of value-based banks. The 67 members of this international organization present in 40 countries agree that banking can be a tool for positive changes. To this end, they are working on creating a more sustainable and inclusive financial system, which can also offer answers to the climate crisis, among other things. Those customers who entrust their finances to local GABV members assume their own responsibility in the above matters as members of the value-based banking community.
The members of the GABV are financial organizations that, when managing their depositors' assets , evaluate their success in terms of the social and environmental benefits created with their help instead of purely monetary results - and the results of their business policy can benefit the local civil sphere and the entire society through the support of their undertakings.
When we choose service providers to manage various areas of our lives, we also make a decision about this: this is how money actually talks, and we decide what it says. We support the operation of our chosen service provider with our money, that is, with our choice, we also decide to support the values and goals represented by our preferred service provider. This does not only mean that by choosing which restaurant, cafe, internet and telephone service provider, drug store or bank we choose, we also vote on whose survival and development we help. Today, most organizations, in addition to the above, obviously also build a community: at a vegan, fair trade breakfast place, we find an audience organized along completely different values than a lunch menu that engages our colleagues with altered work ability, or a bistro serving Argentinian steaks for dinner. When we decide to use our money, we can also think about much deeper, structural changes.
What is your money doing in the bank?
Based on the above, what kind of message did you formulate regarding your chosen financial institution, either consciously or instinctively, or out of some perceived or real compulsion? Did you know, for example, when you made this decision, that value-based and community banking is already available in Hungary?
As the only Hungarian member of GABV, MagNet Bank is truly committed to value-based banking and community values. Like other GABV member financial organizations, MagNet Bank also provides its customers with the opportunity to make their own financial decisions. The customers of the only value-based domestic bank, for example, decide for themselves which NGO they want to support with 10% of the bank's annual profit, and which non-profit initiative they want to credit to the account of the donations generated after their purchases with the help bank card.