Triodos Bank has been named ‘Sustainable Bank of the Year’ at the fourth annual Financial Times Sustainable Banking Awards, held on 4th June. UK based Standard Chartered was runner-up.

"Sustainability is neither a soft, nor purely a CSR, issue," says Charles Middleton, UK managing director of Triodos. "It extends beyond social and environmental concerns to the health of the economic system itself.”

Winners of the ‘Achievement in Basic Needs Financing’ award was UK-based MicroEnsure, an insurance intermediary dedicated to serving the poor throughout the developing world.

"The financial crisis has necessitated a re-assessment of the way in which banks and investment houses operate,” said Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times. “The winners of these Awards are radically changing the industry’s approach to risk and opportunity.”

The other award categories and winners were:

‘Achievement in Banking at the Bottom of the Pyramid’

• Winner: Root Capital, USA 
• Runner-up: WIZZIT, South Africa  

‘Sustainable Investor of the Year’

• Winner: Global Environment Fund, USA 
• Runner-up: E+Co, USA

‘Emerging Markets Sustainable Bank of the Year’

• Winner: Itau Unibanco, Brazil 
• Regional winner Africa/Middle East: Equity Bank, Kenya 
• Regional winner Asia: Industrial Bank, China 
• Regional winner Eastern Europe: Industrial Development Bank of Turkey  
• Regional winner Latin America: Itau Unibanco

More information on the award categories and winners is available on the FT website.