News

FT/IFC Sustainable Finance Awards: the winners

Published

12 years ago

June 15, 2012

Blue & Green Tomorrow

UK organisations scooped five trophies at last night’s Sustainable Finance Awards at the Landmark Hotel in London – an event run by The Financial Times and the International Finance Corporation.

The Co-operative Banking Group, Standard Chartered and Bridges Ventures were among the UK firms that were recognised.

The Co-op was named the European sustainable bank of the year, whilst Standard Chartered took home the global prize.

Bridges Ventures won the award for excellence in sustainable finance, as well as being named as joint sustainable investor of the year.

Meanwhile, an investment deal between Aloe Private Equity and Indian firm, PerPETual Global, was recognised as the sustainable investment of the year.

Further afield, Kilimo Salama, a Kenyan organisation that provides insurance to farmers, gathered the award for technology in sustainable finance.

See below for a full list of winners:

Sustainable Bank of the Year

Africa/Middle East: Nedbank, South Africa

Americas: Itaú Unibanco, Brazil

Asia/Pacific: YES Bank, India

Europe: Co-operative Banking Group, UK

Sustainable Global Bank of the Year

Standard Chartered, UK

Special commendation: Credit Suisse, Switzerland

Sustainable Investor of the Year

Bridges Ventures, UK, and SAM, Switzerland

Special commendation: LeapFrog Investments, Australia

Sustainable Investment of the Year

PerPETual Global & Aloe Private Equity, India-UK

Special commendation: CleanStar Mozambique & Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Mozambique-UK

Award for Technology in Sustainable Finance

Kilimo Salama, Kenya

Special commendation: Yellow Pepper, USA

Special Commendation for Emerging Regional Influence

Banco de Galicia y Buenos Aires, Argentina

Award for Excellence in Sustainable Finance

Bridges Ventures, UK

Nominations for the awards came from 67 countries across the globe, with 161 organisations entering. The ceremony followed a daytime conference, in which a number of high-profile names from the sustainable finance industry shared their thoughts to a room of multinational delegates.

“The winners of this year’s awards should be congratulated as they stand out from a very strong group of financial institutions that are leading the way on making environmental and social considerations a major part of their business”, said Martin Dickson, deputy editor of the FT and co-chair of the awards judging panel.

“We were particularly impressed with the range of projects short-listed, notably the rapid development of mobile phone applications that are changing the lives of billions in the poorest parts of the world.”

The awards prove that innovation in the industry is abundant, and this will carry on thanks to the continued support from investors. Have a look at our Guide to Sustainable Investment if you want to delve further into the world of sustainable finance.

Congratulations to all the winners, and to those organisations that missed out on a gong. Excuse the cliché, but there really aren’t winners and losers in sustainable finance; just a bunch of innovative organisations that in the future, will lead the global economy.