university professor, director of the Business Ethics Centre of Corvinus University of Budapest

 

I am very pleased that we can welcome the first ethical bank in Hungary. Savers can deposit their money with MagNet Bank with clear conscience as their savings will be lent only to progressive businesses. Savers can see where their money goes; what is more, they can decide what ecological, social or cultural initiatives should be financed from their deposits. Also, indicating their own preferences, deposit holders are given the opportunity to offer, in the form of interest discount, part of the interest they earn on their savings to projects they consider important. I hope that the right channels between ethical deposit holders and alternative businesses will be established, promoting ecological restoration and encouraging social creativity in Hungary.

MagNet Bank, retail customer

 

For me “having a say” in what my bank should finance from my savings is a completely new idea and system. The Bank communicates well this idea as it is clear and I can easily find information on the website, too.

 

My expectations are that the idea will be a viable one and progress will be made so that it can be felt that real help has been provided. Besides, any time I visited any branch I received high quality and personalized service. I also consider it a good thing that the Bank has been flexible in adapting to the current economic-financial environment.

managing director, Flow Group

 

Ever since I opened my first bank account, which was when I went to university, I banked at the same bank. MagNet, however, convinced me to change. And this was due not only to the good terms and conditions it offered, but the values we share and MagNet’s new, non-traditional approach to banking. I know who and what is financed from my money, how much money the Bank makes on “me” and that the objective is not extreme profit making, but to deliver benefits to the immediate and wider environment and communities. These demonstrate a commitment to a set of values which could be shared by other organizations as well. Transparency, true responsibility, awareness, partnership and long-term thinking: I think that all modern organizations of the 21st century should hold similar values.

 

I opened a bank account at MagNet just two weeks after I first heard about the idea. I feel that as a customer I voted not only for a bank, but for a system of values and objectives as well. And this is a long-term commitment, not a short one.

social entrepreneur, organization development trainer

 

Now that the first ethical bank has appeared in Hungary, I have the opportunity to know what my money does when held in a bank account. This gives me the opportunity to be aware of and feel responsible for all the consequences and the impacts it may have.

 

I am in close contact and have a personal relationship with some executives at the German GLS Bank and the Dutch TRIODOS Bank and, therefore, could get a first-hand look at how responsible banks operate. Their − and all ethical banks’ − success lies in their operation in perfect harmony with the processes of world development. Instead of focusing on power and profit making at all costs, they have made a commitment, which is becoming more and more widespread, but is not general yet, to organize their processes by setting an example of how to handle our finances with awareness and feel responsible for the world.

 

One of the main differences, compared to the traditional model, for me is that ethical banks rely on the awareness, and not the desires, of its customers. Ethical banks do not wish to attract people by offering high yields. Their target customers are conscious people who think that delivering something good and promoting something positive with their money is an “interest” itself. For these people interest means not only the funds credited to their bank accounts, but also the good and right things done in the world. Ethical banks are our partners in this.

 

I hope that the awareness I have will be further strengthened, with special regard to the current financial processes in the world, by the appearance of MagNet Bank, and more and more people will see what I have recognized already: I am responsible for what my money held with a bank does in the world. This responsibility cannot be taken on elsewhere but in an ethical bank.

political-economist, business ethics expert

 

“Your money is a vote”, so goes the saying. The choice is ours: we can buy domestic, environmentally friendly products which have been produced by socially responsible companies in our country and so have not travelled long distances to reach us, or we can say that it does not matter at all and we base our choices only on brand names and prices. I hope that more and more of us will consider the environmental and social aspects of products and companies when making our choices. In today’s market economy we can only expect companies to take it seriously if clear indication − in financial terms − is given: if people threaten a boycott of irresponsible companies polluting the environment and the market of ethical businesses can expand.

 

So far there has been no bank in Hungary which would have set the objective of ethical and environmentally responsible operation and commitment to the society. I could buy organic apples grown in our country, but I could not deposit my money with a bank the values and principles of which I also hold. But in addition to these pleasant individual feelings, economic significance is also attached to the appearance of the community bank. A community bank can finance sectors and projects which deliver benefits to the society, but due to their modest profit could hardly get access to funds, or even if they did so, the terms and conditions of the loan would not be favourable. And it may also be a signal to the domestic banking sector: it indicates the direction which we should follow after the decline in morals due to the financial crisis, irresponsible lending practices and the unfair treatment of customers.

MagNet Bank customer, managing director of Gipszkarton Children’s Play House

 

I was looking for a bank to open a business account for my start-up and I was convinced by MagNet’s conception. Having the profit I would − hopefully − produce managed in a socially responsible way is clearly linked to the CSR strategy my company wishes to pursue (besides fair trade coffee, employment of disadvantaged workers, tax payment awareness and the use of environmentally friendly materials).

 

I truly believe in the strength of shared value creation and MagNet gives me the opportunity to do this in terms of economies of scale, in other words, I can do something which I could not do with my little money on its own. For the bank where my personal account is held I am only a “customer”. At MagNet, however, I would like to feel that I am their “partner”, who is not only a source of profit (and of course I am, rightly so), but also someone to cooperate with.