Banking is a vital public service and necessary for our future prosperity.  Yet Scottish banks like RBS, with balance sheets larger than our entire economy have undertaken criminal practices, financed vast amounts of environmental destruction, and gambled public money bringing the world to crisis point.

In a new Scotland, how can we remake banks to be at the service of society and the planet, not the other way around?  Friends of the Earth Scotland will be sharing new research with talks from our friends:

Gemma Bone, Finance Innovation Lab
Gemma’s PhD study at the University of Newcastle is exploring the theory and practice of money, debt and banking in collaboration with the Finance Innovation Lab.  Her work focuses on finding ways to reform banks by untangling their useful functions from the “socially useless”.

Patrick Harvie MSP, Scottish Green Party
As part of their ‘Green Yes’ campaign Patrick has championed breaking up RBS in Scotland and turning it into a network of regional publicly-owned banks. An MSP for the Glasgow region he is also the Co-Convenor of the Scottish Greens.

Peter McColl, Rector, University of Edinburgh
Students and staff at Edinburgh University have been pressuring the university to divest from the arms trade and fossil fuel companies.  As Rector, Peter has championed their campaign to the university management and a new ethical policy is now promised.

Ric Lander, Friends of the Earth Scotland (Chair)
Building on Friends of the Earth Scotland’s work challenging the dirty investment practices of RBS and bringing together discussions on how we can achieve “Just Banking”, Ric’s work campaigns for a Scottish financial sector that functions for planet and people.

This event is part of the Commonweal Festival