Social bonds need to prove they have impact.

James Gifford’s life changed when he hopped aboard a flight from Sydney in 2003. The team he joined in Geneva framed the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment, created the concept of ‘ESG’ and changed the world.

Years of tough but successful IMF-led reforms have put Egypt in a great place to rebound strongly from Covid. Its future will be shaped by big infrastructure projects and by a plan to transform the nation into a powerhouse of green finance.

ESG investors want to see evidence that their money is making a difference. It could be putting a dampener on banks’ appetite for issuing social bonds.

The social bond market has boomed as public-sector borrowers raise funding to mitigate the pandemic. Now they need to become long-term options for both banks and corporates.

The Covid pandemic and racial injustice protests have thrust social investing into the spotlight this year. However, using this to achieve long-term change on the ground will be a tough job.

Across every sector and region HSBC stands out for its commitment to developing partnerships and products that will bring finance at scale to create a more sustainable and resilient planet.

Income, racial and gender inequality have been at the top of the news agenda for months. The financial sector now needs to go beyond programmes, initiatives and box-ticking and embed diversity and inclusion into all it does.

Green bond issuance slows in market turmoil, while social bonds offer means to finance Covid-19 responses.

It has taken the climate crisis to bring our collective focus onto the role of financing and the role of banks.

Markets need more sophisticated measurement criteria to cope with the surge in demand for ESG integration.

The investment bank will no longer IPO firms without diverse directors.

Why it doesn’t make sense that economic theory has kept natural capital as an externality.

TNC aims for $1.6 billion impact of blue bonds by 2025; Morgan Stanley commits to financing plastic reduction for oceans.

Firms are funding social and environmental projects on the one hand and fossil fuels on the other – it’s time to show they care.

Looking back over 50 years, it is surprising how finance has changed its role in protest.

The utility’s sustainability performance will partly determine the cost of servicing its new bank credit line, with any savings going to charity.

Research, research and more research is needed for investors to navigate the complex world of ESG and SDG investing.

Momentum for Sibs is growing – which banks will take the lead?

Impact investing would seem an unlikely business for avaricious private equity funds. But many are embracing what they see as a new opportunity. Should we be sceptical or see private equity’s buy-in as proof of the impact investment concept?

Neal Cross brought a range of unusual experiences to his job as chief innovation officer at DBS, one of the world’s most impressive banks for digital ideas. His desire to disrupt and transform doesn’t stop at the bank – it extends to Sumatran orangutans.

Islamic finance has become too focused on getting arcane structures to be technically Shariah compliant, but a new initiative in Malaysia attempts to make Islamic finance socially positive once more – and to measure its success.

The transition to capitalism has brought prosperity to much of emerging Europe but left large sections of society struggling to catch up – now Austria’s Erste Group is going back to its roots to bring prosperity to the region through social banking.

Vancity is the largest credit union in Canada, but by 2007 it was acting like a commercial bank – yet now, after steering every part of the business back to being mission-based, it is delivering record profits, lower risk, new membership and improved employee engagement. Has it shown that the ‘triple bottom line’ of people-planet-profit can be achieved?

Over 20 years after microfinance first arrived in Kyrgyzstan, the largest players are transforming into banks to lower funding costs and increase financial inclusion. Can they convince the country’s farmers to put their cash into banks instead of cows?

Triodos Bank is probably the most sustainable bank in the world. Behind every decision it makes – the loans and investments it underwrites, the people it hires, the suppliers it uses, the way it reports and the way it serves its stakeholders – lies sustainability. It also makes a profit. Is it a model for the broader industry?

Any important new market needs its innovators, cheerleaders and pioneers… As banks try to build more responsible and sustainable businesses, these are the champions of impact banking at 10 of the world’s biggest firms. From green and blue finance to financial inclusion and social banking, they are leading the way and setting an agenda for others to follow.

From the United Nations and the European Commission to customers and shareholders, the world’s banks face increasing pressure not only to consider their broader role in society but also to take actions that have a positive impact on it. There is no doubt that most chief executives take this challenge seriously. Whether they take it far enough remains to seen.

Are we missing a trick by not tweaking tried-and-true instruments for sustainable finance? Can we talk more broadly about commercial viability? And then, of course, there’s Goldman Sachs.

Ten years on from a financial crisis often portrayed as caused by the greed of bankers, we are talking recycled carpets and alleviating poverty. It is a genuinely good thing.