Acting for green and local finance

“Together, let us change finance”

This is the motto of Financité magazine, a quarterly review produced by Financité, a further education movement in French-speaking Belgium advocating ethical, solidarity-based finance. Some 5 000 people, organizations and groups are members of Financité, many of them volunteering to contribute to concrete action.

Financité magazine informs them and some 400 000 more readers on work in progress as well as on economic and financial issues relating to the movement’s objectives.

The latest issue of the magazine entitled “Sustainable finance, false green kills” warns against financial greenwashing. Recently passed European legislation (Taxonomy and Sustainable finance disclosure Regulation) will determine if financial products meet environmental, social and governance sustainability criteria. This information will guide investors’ choices. But accessing the information will remain a challenge according to the article. The magazine further analyses 542 self- proclaimed “socially responsible” funds and concludes that 90 % of them include assets of States and enterprises included in a black list relating to human rights.  The magazine also features analyses on other topics: can Keynes-inspired recipes help recover from the pandemic and should hidden work like domestic tasks be accounted for in economic data.

Financité seeks to put finance at the service of everyone, fighting exclusion. One article shows how the basic banking service does not meet the needs of low income people anymore and compares Belgium with Portugal. Another article lists some pros and cons of grouped purchases of electricity.

One objective of Financité is to bring finance closer to people. With the movement’s support, 2000 volunteers have launched 16 local currencies that are used by local producers and consumers to trade locally. One section of the magazine reviews how these local currencies develop.

In its last sections, the magazine informs on initiatives at the local level and on upcoming events. The magazine ends with citizens’ comments on an article in the previous issue and with the account of some personal experience with the banking sector.

All issues of the magazine are available on line – see the latest issue HERE

Marie Corman

30.10.2021