The term real economy is used by the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV), as a principle to help ground us in community and focus our service on member’s direct needs.
GABV is a group of more than 65 financial institutions from around the world working together to redefine banking by prioritizing social, environmental, and economic sustainability.
Kindred’s membership in GABV provides us an opportunity to engage in the crucial conversations and innovative ideas taking root in visionary financial institutions around the world. We’re a small player on a global scale, yet our commitment to values-centred, faith-inspired cooperative banking propels us to speak out and act locally.
At Kindred, we focus on real economy, and not financial economy, where an investment or loan may pass through several institutions before eventually being used by a business in a service to a community.
To put a real economy lens on Kindred’s financial activity, here are some numbers as of December 31, 2021:
9.8% of our total on-book financial economy assets were $177,850, and 90.2% of our total on-book real economy assets were $1.6M.
6.4% of our total on-book financial economy liabilities/equity was $115,558, and 93.6% of our total on-book real economy liabilities/equity was $1.7M.
The majority of our assets and liabilities fall into real economy. We made a concentrated effort to increase the percentage of our real economy from the previous year by redefining our banking to meet members’ needs. We’re committed to being good stewards of our members’ resources. This includes financial assets as well as human connections, local knowledge, digital infrastructure, and physical spaces.
As we build the technologies and system that improve the speed and efficiency of our services, we’re also working to enhance our relationships with members and community partners to bring our purpose to life. We’re connecting values and faith with finances in a real economy of real relationships – inspiring peaceful, just, and prosperous communities.