Potomac Institute for Policy Studies Academic Fellow Dr. Roland Benedikter is the author of a new book, Social Banking and Social Finance: Answers to the Economic Crisis (Springer, 2011). Click here to access the Amazon.com listing. Dr. Benedikter is currently the European Foundations' Research Professor of Political Sociology, and Visiting Scholar at the Forum on Contemporary Europe of Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA.
In his new book, Dr. Benedikter observes that for over 2,000 years, banks have served to facilitate the exchange of money and to provide a variety of economic and financial services. During the most recent financial collapse and subsequent recession, beginning in 2008, banks have been vilified as perpetrators of the crisis, the public distrust compounded by massive public bailouts.
Nevertheless, another form of banking has also emerged, with a focus on promoting economic sustainability, investing in community, providing opportunity for the disadvantaged, and supporting social, environmental, and ethical agendas. Social Banking and Social Finance traces the emergence of the “bank with a conscience” and proposes a new approach to banking in the wake of the economic crisis.