Fédération Européenne de Finances et Banques Ethiques et Alternatives
FEBEA
FEBEA is the European Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks and Financiers, an international not for profit association created in Brussels in 2001 with the goal of developing ethical and solidarity-based finance in Europe.
ID: 423942616222-03
Lobbying Activity
Meeting with Dorota Denning (Cabinet of Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis), Mirzha De Manuel (Cabinet of Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis) and
18 Nov 2025 · Competitiveness and simplification
Response to Savings and Investments Union
3 Mar 2025
The revitalisation of the Capital Markets Union into the Savings and Investments Union is an important step to retain and channel EU savers money towards strategic priorities. Often, one of these priorities has been identified in accelerating the just green transition and decarbonisation of the European economy. However, while there have been suggestions to mobilise idle savings, few concrete proposals have been put forward to ensure that these funds are channelled towards the transition. Without mechanisms preventing savings from flowing towards harmful activities, the SIU risks failing to meet its intended goal. This raises concerns that decarbonisation and the just transition are solely being used as a pretext, while the real objective is to simply inflate EU industry and financial markets to be comparable to the USs - potentially at the expense of key EU regulatory achievements in human rights, labour protections and environmental safeguards. Moreover, in the current discourse on the SIU, banks are seen as having a too prevalent role. In reality, mainstream banks prioritise financial activities over core banking operations, which means their priority is not to support the real economy. Banks historically play a social role, matching savers with consumers and entrepreneurs. The solution should be to reduce the profit-maximising financial activities of banks and shift their focus on extending credit to the real economy. This would contribute to healing the wounds inflicted by austerity, guaranteeing a strong social fabric and sustainable growth, leaving no one behind. Lastly, 2024 high-level reports propose a revival of securitisation, attributing its decline to stringent prudential regulations on banks, despite these restrictions being implemented, in some cases, to mitigate risks linked to securitisation itself. To overcome liquidity constraints while safeguarding financial stability, FEBEA recommends to increase de-risking instruments and bank liquidity (e.g. bank guarantees), as well as regulatory proportionality. Rather than reviving securitisation, which not only incentivises short-termism and speculation, but also risks undermining the just green transition, the following measures provide a safer and more inclusive approach: - De-risking instruments (e.g. guarantees) leverage the liquidity of banks that have a genuine positive impact on society and the environment. - Capital investment by the EIB into value-driven credit institutions, similarly to what the Biden Administration did in 2022 under the Emergency Capital Investment Program (ECIP). This increased liquidity would generate multiplier effects, leading to exponential social and environmental benefits, exceeding the impact of any other single measure. This is especially crucial for cooperative banks and credit unions, where investments in their social capital can substantially enhance their ability to provide credit to individuals, businesses, and organisations dedicated to building a better world. - One-size-fits-all rules penalise small players, especially those that are proven to have large positive impacts. If the commitment to the just green transition is genuine, these actors should be rewarded with proportional regulation. To this regard, size is not the only factor at play, as players differ in their activities too. Smart simplification should alleviate the burden of those suffocated by regulation that should not apply to them, simply because they already have systems in place, sometimes even more advanced than regulation itself, meant to contribute to the transition.
Read full responseMeeting with Santina Bertulessi (Cabinet of Commissioner Nicolas Schmit) and Social Economy Europe and CONFEDERACION EMPRESARIAL ESPAÑOLA DE LA ECONOMIA SOCIAL
17 Jul 2023 · Social Economy Recommendation
Response to Social Economy Action Plan
26 Apr 2021
FEBEA - European Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks and Financiers (febea.org), as a proud member of Social Economy Europe, endorses its proposals to develop the social economy in all of its aspects. In our particular contribution here, we would like to limit our specific proposals to the area of finance, in which we have not only a specific expertise but also two decades of ethical finance experience and the examples of 30 members throughout Europe.
FEBEA proposals:
1. Investing in the development of Ethical finance throughout Europe, to ensure the parallel and sustained development of the social economy in all member states. It is much more effective for the EU institutions to base the development of the social economy on financial instruments and enabling ecosystems. The missing piece is often social financial intermediaries embedded in the social economy sector themselves and that can support its development overtime.
2. Focusing financial instruments for the social economy on equity for financial intermediaries, that can liberate their investment potential. Complementing existing guarantee schemes with adapted equity tools can multiply the investment power of most lenders often more constrained by regulation than risk or investment appetite.
3. Investing in greenfield social finance institutions in those countries where there is no social finance or it is underdeveloped. This may be done through specific investment vehicles willing to support through equity such greenfield organizations as well as by grants that create incentives for their establishment.
4. Increasing citizen participation in social finance initiatives, by creating enabling ecosystems, promoting support for social finance initiatives at national, regional and local level and creating incentives to grow the supply of funds for social finance, by harnessing the potential of mobilizing citizen capital in favor of the social economy. Best practices exist today in Europe, for example in France and Italy, that could be generalized at European level.
5.Create incentives for institutional investment in social finance from actors such as pension funds, insurance companies and mutuals and other patient investors and promote their collaboration with social finance actors. With the objective of increasing the supply of social finance in favor of the social economy.
6. Improve the existing social finance offer in favor of the social economy by improving the financial instruments of the EU. The excellent guarantee programs developed for social enterprises should be extended in volume, but they can multiply their impact on the social economy by being complemented with refinancing for financial intermediaries that is priced at market rates and by equity instruments that can support patient investment approaches and provide long term investment for social economy organisations.
7. Complementing financial instruments with dedicated funds for non-financial support for social economy organisations, to ensure that each euro invested can be leveraged to create the maximum social and economic impact.
8. Multiplying the efficiency of EU and national funds by removing bureaucratic obstacles and cumbersome rules and procedures and eliminating limits in the size and type or social economy organizations eligible for finance.
9. Designing the EU Action Plan for the social Economy as the path towards a fully fletched and permanent policy of the EU that remains as a legacy of the EU Action Plan of the Social Economy. The benchmark for that would be the COSME programme, with its fully developed policy for the development of SMEs, its financial instruments and incentives. A similar program for the Social Economy would be for us the end goal of the current EU Action Plan of the Social Economy.
Further explanation, including best practices that highlight many of our proposals with concrete examples, can be found in the documents annexed to this response.
Read full responseMeeting with Michel Servoz (Director-General Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion)
11 Sept 2017 · New president