My money does good

"Mijn geld gaat goed."

Roughly translated as "My money does good." is the slogan of Triodos bank, one of the two 'ethical' banks in the Netherlands. I often think of the things I can do for the environment as I see them - buying organic food and clothes, recycling and taking the stairs instead of the lift (not that I always do this - I live on the 10th floor!). I think that often what is done in our name that we wouldn't necessarily choose to do if given the choice, has a much larger impact on the environment than what we can make conscious decisions about. With that in mind, it is great when somebody else's ideas and actions give us the opportunity to live more sustainably.

One of these ideas is ethical banking. The concept is pretty simple - a bank that goes beyond the standard 'printed on recycled paper' green-wash, and invests only in environmentally sustainable businesses. It's something that I'm sure most of us have thought about at some time - "I print my statements double sided and on recycled paper, but what is going on behind the numbers? I mean, nuclear power plants, weapons manufacturers, and the US government must get their money from somewhere..." It really struck me when I was watching 'Green' a documentary about palm oil and forest destruction in Indonesia. At the end of the film (and on the homepage of the website) the film makers list the companies and banks responsible for the deforestation, and include every major Dutch bank (yes, including ABN Amro). The good news is that these banks let you avoid these tricky end of month realisations.

I do all my day to day banking through Triodos, and have been very impressed. While they do not officially cater for English speaking clients, they have the most helpful staff I have ever encountered following 'on hold' music, and they are all very fluent in English. They do not have branches, so all banking is carried out online, and with only a couple of Dutch words you should be able to use the website without trouble (think of it as helping you learn!). I have a savings account with them and a 'betaalrekening' (current account - lit. 'pay account') which comes with a debit card. They don't do credit cards, but it is easy to link another credit card to your account. I've used International Card Services. If you don't already have a Dutch bank account, you will need to go to Zeist (where they are based, and a lovely day trip!) with your passport - it's probably a good idea to give them a call first. If you have a Dutch account, you can use the online 'switching over' service.

ASN is the other ethical bank in the Netherlands. Until recently they only did savings accounts, but now do a normal 'bankrekening' with a debit card. You can also open an ASN account online.

Finally, if you're stuck deciding between which one of these banks really is the right one for you, this might make it easier: the Triodos debit card is more green and has trees on it while the ASN card is light blue with a jumping Orca on it.