The Bank of Åland has signed the UN Principles for Responsible Banking

Bank of Åland Plc
Press release
December 2, 2019, 9.00 am

The Bank of Åland has signed the UN Principles for Responsible Banking

As a natural step in the Bank of Åland's sustainability work, the Bank has now also signed the United Nations Principles for Responsible Banking together with 192 other banks. The principles were recently established. Their aim is to align the financial services sector with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement by engaging them in cooperation and clarifying the sector's responsibility for creating a sustainable society.

“Our ambition is to ensure that our operations will be sustainable in the long term, financially as well as socially and environmentally. For many years, sustainability has been integrated into our operations, but we know that we need to do more. Signing the Principles for Responsible Banking is further evidence that we are increasing our efforts in this area, which is so important to all of us," says Peter Wiklöf, Managing Director of the Bank of Åland.

As early as 1997, the Bank of Åland created an Environmental Account in order to join with its customers in supporting activities that improve the environment, especially in the Baltic Sea area. In 2010, the Bank signed the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI), which − together with responsible lending, social responsibility and environmental responsibility − are at the heart of the Bank's sustainability strategy. The Åland Index, the world's first bank index for monitoring consumers’ individual environmental impact, is linked to all payment cards offered by the Bank to its customers. By also offering the index to other banks, the Bank of Åland is already working to help engage the entire banking industry in shared responsibility for a more sustainable future.

With a common framework, the banking industry can act together and actively take responsibility for accelerating positive and sustainable changes. The Principles were created through innovative cooperation between the United Nations Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and the global financial services sector.

Read more about the UN Principles for Responsible Banking (English).

For further information, please contact:

Peter Wiklöf, Managing Director and Chief Executive, Bank of Åland tel. +358 40 512 7505