When the financial crisis hit and retail banks – desperate to cut costs – closed less profitable branches, they did so chiefly in rural towns, or low- to moderate-income (LMI) communities.

Natixis surveys large institutional investors and produces framework to avoid ‘SDG-washing’.

A prestigious award in economics could encourage complacency, rather than forceful action, on fossil fuel consumption.

Alternatives to green bonds and loans needed to boost Asian green finance; engaging retail investors will be key.

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

The smackdown on greenwashing is coming – and ‘commitments’ to clean energy and environmental practices will not be enough.

GoPay is southeast Asia’s answer to Ant Financial. Its CEO comes with a background in the most micro level of finance: empowering village housewives to buy things to cook with. How will he build a business backed by the biggest names in global private equity?

Banks must be front and centre for Europe to mobilize its financial system in the fight against climate change.

We need to change the banking model – and that means every person has to take some responsibility. Perhaps UNEP FI’s principles are the way forward.

Managing director, Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group

Head of sustainable banking, Crédit Agricole CIB

Global director of Citi Community Development and Inclusive Finance

Executive director of community innovation for JPMorgan

Managing director, Infrastructure and Real Estate Group Asia at HSBC

Chief sustainability officer and chief marketing officer, Morgan Stanley

Investment strategist, Bank of America Global Wealth Management

CIO, UBS Global Wealth Management

Chief sustainability officer, Americas, BNP Paribas

Head of green solutions, Impact, Advisory and Finance Department, Credit Suisse

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.

These are the areas that the United Nations says banks need to consider when accepting their responsibilities in shaping and financing a sustainable future.

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.

The Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility aims to source projects that transform lives and environments, and to securitize the project loans into bonds that will be sold to investors through the MTN markets. It all starts with a rubber plantation in Sumatra.