From 26 February to 8 March 2024, Padua will become the international capital of ethical finance. Precisely in Padua, on 8 March twenty-five years ago, in Piazzetta Forzatè 2, the first branch opened of what is still today the only Italian bank entirely dedicated to ethical finance. Since then, Banca Etica has grown exponentially into a banking group with 500 employees, of which a hundred work at the headquarters and branch office in via Niccolò Tommaseo 7, and the others operate throughout Italy at numerous branch offices, as well as in Spain, including Bilbao, Barcelona and Madrid.
A unique bank, born in Padua from the impetus of civil society across the country that wanted a credit institution capable of financially supporting the best third-sector initiatives and demonstrating to the entire economic-financial system that banking can be done by putting people’s rights and the protection of the planet at the center. Today it partners with a wide range of businesses and social economy initiatives throughout Italy and Spain, to the point of having more than 47 thousand members and 92 million euros in share capital; a savings collection of more than 2.4 billion euros.
Today, Banca Etica finances around 1.2 billion euros to organizations, families and businesses in the sectors of social innovation, international cooperation, culture and quality of life, environmental protection, responsible tourism, organic farming, right to housing, and legality.
The meeting of the global network of ethical finance, Global Alliance for Banking on Values, in Padua
To celebrate its 25th anniversary, Banca Etica – with the patronage of the Municipality of Padua – will bring to the city more than 200 representatives from 70 banks in 45 countries around the world that practice ethical finance, assembled in the Global Alliance for Banking on Values. The Global Ethical Finance Summit will open, under the patronage of UNIPD, on Monday 26 February, at the prestigious Aula Magna of the University of Padua, with speeches by Monica Fedeli, the university’s Pro-Chancellor with responsibility for the Third Mission and Territorial Relations, and Francesca Benciolini, the City of Padua’s Councillor for International Cooperation, Peace and Human Rights, and Anna Fasano, President of Banca Etica. This will be followed by a talk by Professor Stefano Quintarelli – a member of the UN Leadership Council of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network and a member of the European Commission’s High-Level Panel on Artificial Intelligence – and Gaël Giraud, the founder of the Georgetown Environmental Justice Program at Georgetown University, a former energy policy advisor to the French government and a political theologian. You can follow the event on the Banca Etica page.
During the days of the meeting, GABV delegates will be taken on an experiential tour to learn about and meet some of the businesses that have been financed and supported by Banca Etica in the province of Padua over the past 25 years. Companies that operate in different fields but work pursuing economic, social and environmental sustainability. Alliance members will meet, among others, the El Tamiso and Arakè cooperatives in Padua. Also in Padua, the company Etifor, which stands out for its expertise in enhancing the services and products of nature, and Legatoria Zanardi, born as a workers’ buyout – or recovered enterprise – from the ashes of the Zanardi Publishing Group, a struggling bookbinding company saved from closure by its own employees. And finally, Enaip Veneto, an organization operating in the fields of education and vocational training, with a person-oriented approach that emphasizes individual well-being and growth.
The city celebrates with music and women’s rights: a great free show at Padova Congress
On 8 March, exactly 25 years from the opening of the first branch, Banca Etica’s celebration will culminate at Padova Congress, starting at 8:30 pm. Once again, Councillor Francesca Benciolini will bring the greetings and support of the administration and citizens of Padua. And if, a few days earlier, the GABV meeting was inaugurated in a magnificent university space steeped in history and culture, nonetheless the joyous celebration of Banca Etica’s quarter-century anniversary will take place on International Women’s Day in another place of great significance for the community, representative of the innovative character and beauty of an area to whose development Banca Etica has contributed since 1999. Padova Congress, an elegant and functional work designed by Kengo Kuma, one of the masters of “contextual” architecture, will in fact host a show that all citizens are invited to (the event is free and you can register on the bank’s web site, until sold out). The journalist Cristina Tagliabue will host an evening punctuated by a monologue about women’s rights by the Paduan actress Giorgia Mazzucato, by the testimonies of the people who have made the dreams of a bank that looks at principles before profit come true, and by the music and songs Giovanni Caccamo, a multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter, discovered by Franco Battiato and today very popular even with younger generations. A star several times at the Sanremo Festival, Caccamo has received the Mia Martini Critics’ Award, the Lucio Dalla Press Room Award and the E. Luzzati Award in 2015. He has also collaborated with extraordinary Italian and international artists including Patti Smith, Lang Lang, Franco Battiato, Elisa, Patty Pravo, Carmen Consoli, Francesca Michielin…
Meeting and celebrations to protect ecosystems
Aware that more than 87 percent of an event’s emissions are generated by the transportation used to reach its location, Banca Etica’s emissions reduction policy is also being applied to the GABV summit and 25-year celebrations, raising awareness and even involving the participants. Therefore, the journey to reduce the impact of all Banca Etica’s events continues. Emissions are then measured and non-avoidable emissions are offset through projects to protect and plant new trees in particularly important ecosystems.
