MICROFINANCE EVENT: FT and IFC Launch 2008 Sustainable Banking Awards for Microfinance Institutions and Investors

The 2008 Financial Times Sustainable Banking Awards will be held in London on June 3, 2008. Started in 2006, in partnership with the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), the FT Sustainable Banking Awards recognizes banks that have shown leadership and innovation in integrating social, environmental and corporate governance objectives into their operations.

The third annual FT Sustainable Banking Awards will cover the following categories:

Sustainable Bank of the Year
Emerging Markets Sustainable Bank of the Year
Sustainable Deal of the Year
Award for Banking at the Bottom of the Pyramid
Sustainable Investor of the Year

The deadline for entries is February 29, 2008.

This year’s judging panel will include Elizabeth Littlefield, CEO of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), a multi-donor organization that helps to provide large-scale sustainable financial services to the poor. Littlefield is one of the World Bank’s senior spokespeople on microfinance.

Richard Laing, Chief Executive of CDC Group Ltd, a UK-Government owned sustainable development fund, and Jonathan Lash, President of the World Resources Institute (WRI), a non-profit environmental think-tank, will also join Littlefield among the panel of judges.

The judging panel will be co-chaired by John William, UK business editor for the Financial Times and Rachel Kyte, the Director of Environment and Social Development, IFC.

The 2007 Financial Times Sustainable Banking Awards drew 151 entries from 103 institutions in 51 countries with awards given out to the following institutions: