Vancity hosts global summit to chart a radically new future for banking

Finance leaders to attend a two-day summit on how values-based banking can help solve environmental, social and economic crises

February 14, 2019, Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – What do melting icecaps, mass migration and gender equality have to do with banking? “Everything,” if you ask those coming to a summit next week in Vancouver.

At the Global Alliance for Banking on Values Summit in Vancouver on February 19 and 20, bankers, regulators, policymakers, activists and NGO leaders from around the world will explore how finance can solve the problems of our time. Summit host Vancity has been using this approach to tackle issues locally such as financial inclusion and access to affordable housing, which have a tremendous impact on the well-being of our communities.

“What we fund today has an impact on the world we create tomorrow,” says president and CEO of Vancity, Tamara Vrooman. “Financial institutions have the power to finance change, but to really make an impact on the issues we’re focusing on at the Summit, we have to change finance.”

The Summit will gather a wide range of experts on social, environmental and economic topics, including president of Capital Institute (USA), John Fullerton, the architect of regenerative economic theory, who will be speaking at an evening event open to the public titled Reimagining Economics: How living systems can fix a broken one. Summit attendees will also have an opportunity to co-create solutions by participating in three “exChange” sessions:

• Migrants exChange: Explore what needs to be done to influence governments, encourage civil society, and shift the values of the financial sector to meet the needs of the growing number of displaced communities; keynote Tima Kurdi, refugee advocate and author.
• #MeToo exChange: Discuss how inclusion and innovation in finance can help pave the way to a fairer financial system; keynote Musimbi Kanyoro, president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women.
• Melting Icecaps exChange: Explore the transformative role of banking as it relates to environmental challenges and climate change; keynote Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Nobel Peace Prize nominee and climate change advocate.

The two-day program culminates with a call to action on how to redefine banking to create a radically different future.

“Values-based banks across the world are helping to transform the financial system and our society from the inside out,” says Marcos Eguiguren, executive director of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values. “We’ve been able to show through our member organizations that we can improve our communities through values-based banking, while at the same time producing better and more stable financial returns than those shown by the largest banks in the world.”

For more information, tickets and a full schedule of events, visit: gabvsummit2019.com.

About Vancity

Vancity is a values-based financial co-operative serving the needs of its more than 525,000 member-owners and their communities in the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw territories, with 59 branches in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Victoria, Squamish and Alert Bay. With $26.4 billion in assets plus assets under administration, Vancity is Canada’s largest community credit union. Vancity uses its assets to help improve the financial well-being of its members while at the same time helping to develop healthy communities that are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.

About the Global Alliance for Banking on Values

The Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV) is a network of more than 50 banking leaders from around the world committed to advancing positive change in the banking sector. Our collective goal is to change the banking system so that it is more transparent, supports economic, social and environmental sustainability, and is composed of a diverse range of banking institutions serving the real economy.
The Alliance was founded after the 2008 financial crisis and formalized a network of financial institutions who for many years had already been operating in a sustainable and viable way. They formalized the movement of Values-based Banking in 2009.

Global Alliance for Banking on Values members are focused on following the principles of values-based banking.

For more information:

Brent Shearer | Vancity
T: 778-837-0394
mediarelations@vancity.com

Joanna Frandsen | Edelman
T: 604.648.3428
joanna.frandsen@edelman.com