A View from the Clinton Global Initiative
by Mary on October 6th, 2009
By Mary Houghton, cofounder and President, ShoreBank Corporation
The recent Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) conference focused on “how” the world can address urgent global needs like providing greater access to quality health care and education, and creating sustainable economies. Finance turned out to be one of the “hows.”
President Clinton used his convening capacity to bring private, public, philanthropic and nonprofit partners together in “commitments” (a firm commitment of an amount to launch or expand a scalable program) that gained support and sometimes funding from their presence and coverage at the event. The CGI also featured progress reports on previous “commitments,” showing the power of past conferences. The areas of impact included strides made in expanding access to finance for the poor.
This was an excellent forum for discussing new ideas and models in the field of financial services, of which there are many, like a dramatic increase in small business lending or using microfinance platforms to deliver other services. In the wake of the current global financial crisis, many voices are pointing to the failure of the globe’s largest banks and financial institutions and are seeking either a return to local-scale banking or to business practices that create value beyond short-term financial profits.
This backdrop only increased the urgency my colleagues and I felt about our participation. CGI selected Jan Piercy, Executive Vice President, ShoreBank to be a Finance Track leader, responsible for designing a plenary and three working sessions. In addition to my speaking role on a breakout panel on how banks might better serve consumers who are without access to affordable, traditional banking services, a number of ShoreBank Directors, managers, partners and “alums” served as Finance Track advisors, moderators and speakers.
ShoreBank was also involved in five new “commitments” during CGI 2009, of which three of them were selected to be publicly announced during the sessions. They include:
* John Berdes and his colleagues at ShoreBank Enterprise Cascadia working with more than a dozen organizations in Oregon to create a new loan program to improve energy efficiency for homeowners in Portland and ultimately, elsewhere in the state. The program could grow to be very large and be replicated nationally. This caught the eye of the Clinton Global Initiative staff and the “commitment” was announced by President Clinton at a special plenary session.
* Arjan Schutte of the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) was recognized in a working session for CFSI’s commitment to establish the Core Fund to finance businesses extending financial products and services to low-income consumers.
* ShoreCap Exchange’s “commitment” to create a Small Business Network to support local financial institutions extending credit to smaller borrowers in developing and emerging markets around the world.
It was also announced that ShoreBank is a founding member of the Investors Council of the Global Impact Investing Network, which committed to expanding the ways to evaluate social as well as financial returns on investments. ShoreBank’s partners in The Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV) are Triodos and BRAC. Our three institutions became co-sponsors of a new network of banks that have a triple bottom-line core business model. Launched in early 2009, GABV’s next annual meeting will be in Dhaka in March 2010. Banks with at least $100 million in assets and central social banking focus are sought to join the alliance.
Perhaps the most unexpected aspect of CGI was former President Clinton participating in a half-dozen sessions with all the facts at his fingertips, a passion for change that would benefit ordinary people, and with a strong, often apolitical point of view.
Not surprising? Matt Damon and Brad Pitt can give good speeches!
The Clinton Global Initiative invites members back year after year to report on progress (and obstacles) in achieving commitments made in earlier years. This lends more reality and honesty than is usual in these venues. For example, Brad Pitt reported on some very attractive green housing built by Make It Right in the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans. He was proud of the hundred-some houses now up and occupied but also modest enough to wish it were hundreds more.
For additional information on all the ShoreBank companies, visit www.shorebankcorp.com or www.sbk.com.
Tags: Clinton Global Initiative, community development, green banking, Mary Houghton, ShoreBank, triple bottom line
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