About us

About Us

Fair Finance International (FFI) is an international civil society network of 70 CSOs, initiated by Oxfam, that seeks to strengthen the commitment of banks and other financial institutions to social, environmental and human rights standards.

As a global network we use a rigorous methodology to assess, report on, and campaign for more responsible investment policies & practices. By benchmarking the investment policies and practices of financial institutions in critical areas such as human rights and climate impact, we enable consumers and policy holders to demand more socially responsible, fair, and sustainable investments.

FFI builds on a pioneering model developed in the Netherlands since 2009, followed by a similar initiative in Brazil in 2011, which demonstrated the potential for bringing about positive change in the ways the financial sector invests.

The FFI network is currently active in:

Belgium, Brazil, Cambodia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Netherlands, Norway , Sweden, Thailand, The Philippines and Vietnam. Each coalition is composed of civil society groups with expertise in areas relevant to monitoring and assessing the financial sector, and often includes development and human rights organisations, labour unions, environmental groups, and consumer organisations. All Asian coalitions work together on a regional base within the Fair Finance Asia program, working in close coordination with FFI.

The Fair Finance coalitions have, together with Profundo, developed a rigorous methodology to assess and monitor bank policies and practices.

Through this, FFI provides evidence-based research and analysis for critical dialogues with banks, for informing the public, and for ensuring improved democratic oversight of financial institutions.

Interested in joining?
Fair Finance International is expanding to new countries and regions. To know more about how your organization can join or start a Fair Finance Guide, please contact Fair Finance International coordinator, Kees Kodde - kees.kodde@oxfamnovib.nl

Fair Finance International is initiated by Oxfam and financially supported by Sida.

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Race to the Top

Fair Finance International is a global network assessing, reporting on and campaigning for more responsible investment policies & practices by financial institutions. We enable consumers and policy holders to make financial institutions more socially responsible, fair, and sustainable by benchmarking their investment policies and practices against international standards in critical areas such as human rights and climate impact.

The aim of Fair Finance International is to initiate a ‘race to the top’ between banks on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), transparency, and other social, environmental and human rights standards. Ideally, this brings about a self-reinforcing process whereby banks continuously raise their adherence to those standards, ultimately resulting in more sustainable lending, investments and asset management all over the world.

The FFI contributes to banks’ CSR policies and practices on a wide variety of issues, thereby benefiting a wide audience. It stimulates consumers and bank clients to critically compare their own bank’s CSR policies with those of other banks, and to address their bank on its shortcomings.

The FFI focuses on the following activities:

•It assesses bank policies regularly, using a rigorous methodology, and scores those policies;
•Through empirical case studies, it compares bank policies with their practices and draws conclusions about the extent to which banks follow their own policies;
•It helps raise public awareness of the role and responsibilities of banks and of the financial sector
•It engages banks in dialogue, providing them with feedback on their policies, the implementation of their own policies, their transparency, and other concrete sustainability issues;
•It involves consumers and bank clients through (social) media in critically assessing the policy of their bank, and encourages them to take action by demanding more sustainable investments, transparency and accountability from their banks.
•It encourages media attention to bank policies and practices by publishing the scores of banks on a wide range of issues and by producing case studies of bank practices.
•It translates proposals for improving banks´ policies into recommendations for more effective regulation through policy work with parliamentarians and ministries.

The Fair Finance Methodology

A key part of our Fair Finance work is our comprehensive and rigorous methodology. Developed by our network with policy research experts Profundo, and other stakeholders, the methodology is used to assess Financial Institutions' approach to sustainability across 23 influential themes, including corruption, human rights, and climate change. By assessing the publicly available information on how Financial Institutions' incorporate sustainability considerations into their operations, we can score them on social responsibility. This data forms the basis of constructive fact-based dialogue across the sector for more responsible and sustainable financial policies and practices.

The methodology is aligned to international standards and is designed to be responsive to the countries and contexts a financial institution operates in. However every assessment carried out by our network examines 9 core themes: Climate Change; Corruption; Human Rights; Labor rights; Nature; Tax; Arms; Transparency; Gender.

The other topics within the assessment are: Animal welfare; health; financial sector; fisheries; food ; forestry; housing and real estate; manufacturing; mining; oil and gas; power generation; consumer protection; financial inclusion; remuneration.

All of our Fair Finance coalitions operating in Asia, Latin America and Europe, use this methodology to assess the financial institutions in their countries on a regular basis. Scores are given to the financial institutions and published on the national Fair Finance Guide websites, where consumers and citizens can see how financial institutions compare, and take action by sending a complaint or compliment.

The methodology is updated every one to two years to remain current with the latest international standards and to incorporate new data from across our global network. The current methodology refers to over 422 international standards and criteria and is the 5^th update since the first international methodology was developed in 2014.

Fair Finance Asia

Fair Finance International collaborates and partners with Fair Finance Asia, a regional network of 25 Asian civil society organizations committed to ensuring that financial institutions’ funding decisions in the region respect the social and environmental well-being of local communities.

Through our cross-collaboration we support sustainable financing initiatives and knowledge sharing, and strengthen the evidence base in cases of harmful investments to better hold financial institutions to account. By connecting these diverse national, regional and global perspectives the Fair Finance network as a whole can advise on and advocate for meaningful changes to financing systems, with positive results for citizens and communities.

Contact

Want to know more about our initiative?

Contact:
Fair Finance International
e-mail: info@fairfinanceguide.org