Triodos Bank increases lending to social sector by a third

Finance | Vibeka Mair | 5 Oct 2009

Triodos Bank has increased lending to charities and social enterprises by 33 per cent in the first half of 2009, taking its total lending and commitments to civil society to £150m.

The largest growth area was social housing.

Overall the ethical bank showed a 29 per cent increase in total UK lending and commitments in the first half of 2009 to £305m.

Sue Cooper, senior manager of the social banking team at Triodos said the growth in lending was due in part to the recession:

"Because of lending constraints in mainstream banks organisations have started to turn to alternative lenders like us. We have the money to lend while mainstream banks are finding it difficult.

"Also, last year less people borrowed as they wanted to hold off and see what happened with the economic downturn. The situation is slightly clearer this year so more people are borrowing."

Meanwhile, Google and Triodos Bank have launched an online interactive map that lets users see where and to whom Triodos has lent money around the UK.

The website, called KnowWhereYourMoneyGoes, started in Netherlands Triodos:

"It's another way of delivering transparency about all our operations," says Cooper.

The site is modelled on route planner Google Maps. It features an application where users can search by location to find out where Triodos is lending or by sector to find specific projects (pictured) which Triodos funds.

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