ASN Bank was founded in 1960 and has been unwavering in its mission to foster environmental and social sustainability. Our team of around 240 people is dedicated to fulfilling our sustainability ambitions and offering our customers excellent banking services.
Our customer base consists mainly of personal current account holders, savers and investors in the ASN investment funds. We also offer services to self-employed individuals and finance major sustainability projects.
Mission
Our mission is to foster environmental and social sustainability. We use the money that our customers entrust to us to help create a world that is safe and healthy for people to live in. One where the environment is respected, both now and in the future.
How we practise sustainable banking
We use the money that our customers entrust to us to make forward-looking choices. With the future in mind and with respect for people, living creatures and the planet. We apply the following key principles:
We check if potential loans and investments meet our sustainability criteria. Sustainability is thus the norm: we apply strict criteria and assess the policy and conduct of companies and organisations on that basis.
We help people make sustainable choices in their own lives through our platform Vanaf Hier.
We offer transparent products.
We are a bank with a low risk profile.
We invest in affordable housing, water management, education, public transport, sustainable energy, and companies and countries that respect human rights and the environment. We do not invest in fossil fuels, child labour, the arms industry, nuclear energy, and countries and companies that violate human rights.
Sustainability policy
Our sustainability policy clearly states where we lend or invest and where we do not. We focus our activities on three pillars: human rights, climate and biodiversity. On that basis, we exercise an influence on sustainable development. For example, by selecting sustainable companies for our investment funds, only financing sustainable projects and by entering into a dialogue with companies.
However, we want to go beyond the meticulous selection of investments and loans. As the driving force and promoter behind the sustainable choices of other financial institutions, we can increase our impact even further. Here also, we focus primarily on our long-term goals for human rights, climate and biodiversity.
Focus on climate, biodiversity and human rights
The sustainability policy of ASN Bank and de Volksbank is based on three sustainability pillars: climate, biodiversity and human rights. The projects, organizations and countries in which we invest customer money, must pay attention to these pillars. And have goals to, for example, reduce their CO2 emissions in the upcoming years.
Climate
Greenhouse gas emissions, including CO2, are to blame for the current rapid rise in global warming and consequently for climate change. We think it is important to do as much as we can to reduce these emissions – to ensure a decent quality of life for ourselves and for future generations.
We limit the CO2 emissions for which our financing and investments are responsible. We test all companies and projects in which we invest or to which we lend money for their positive contribution to the climate. We finance energy generation from renewable sources such as solar and wind energy and projects that save energy.
Biodiversity
Biodiversity refers to the variety of living organisms and ecosystems – the habitats in which these living organisms are found, such as forests and seas. Biodiversity is vital to people’s lives. But it is currently in rapid decline. We believe that we must do our utmost to conserve biodiversity and to improve ecosystems.
ASN Bank has an extensive sustainability policy for biodiversity. All our investments and the investments of ASN Impact Investors are tested against this policy. We look at the possible impact of investments and consciously choose activities that have a less negative impact on biodiversity. In this way, we strive to reduce the biodiversity loss caused by our investments as much as possible.
We also protect and restore biodiversity by investing in projects that contribute to nature protection and development, sustainable energy and a circular economy. For example, the Dutch company Avantium is developing and marketing a more environmentally friendly alternative to plastic. Or Solarge, which produces lightweight solar panels that are also fully recyclable.
Human rights
We believe that everyone has the right to education, food and housing. That everyone has the right to free speech. That governments should not use violence against citizens. And we feel that as a bank we can and múst help to uphold these rights.
We take our human rights policy as a starting point. We assess countries, projects and companies in which we invest on various aspects such as child labor, trade union freedom, forced labor and discrimination. We only invest the money you entrust to us in countries, projects and companies that meet our sustainability criteria.
In 2018 we were co-initiators of the Living Wage Financials Platform (PLWF). More than twenty financial institutions now participate in PLWF. They work together on the theme of living wages in the textile and food industry. In the summer of 2024, ASN Impact Investors took the decision to remove shares of fast fashion clothing brands and groups from the ASN Funds.
In 2022, together with partners, we started the European Citizens' Initiative Good Clothes Fair Pay, which advocated European legislation for a living wage. In one year, almost a quarter of a million European citizens signed this initiative for a living wage in the clothing industry. Although the initiative has ended, we remain committed to living wage legislation.
