Moratorium for B Corps in the financial services industry

In June 2022, B Lab announced plans to develop new standards for companies in the financial services industry that are seeking B Corp Certification. As part of that announcement, B Lab introduced a moratorium on new B Corp Certifications for financial services companies with more than USD $1 billion in annual revenue.

Since then, B Lab has launched the new B Lab Standards (V2), and have welcomed the first cohort of B Corps to be certified under the V2 standards. Throughout these developments, the financial services moratorium remains in effect today.

Financial services companies with more than USD $1 billion in annual revenue. For these companies, B Lab has paused new B Corp Certifications while sector-specific standards for financial services are being developed. B Lab encourages these companies to remain engaged on B Impact, to continue their impact journey throughout this time.

The global financial system and the companies that compose it play a unique and essential role in the global economy and its social and environmental impacts. From managing systemic risks, to stewarding capital towards or away from both positive and negative impact companies, to supporting the financial well-being of their individual customers — these companies have considerable power over the well-being of people, communities, and the planet.

It is increasingly challenging to assess the real impacts of financial services companies, hold them accountable, and identify which are driving meaningful change amid rapid innovation and growing complexity in financial markets. All the while social movements, ranging from Occupy Wall Street to Extinction Rebellion, have challenged these companies' social license to operate and demanded changes to both individual companies and the system. Notions of ESG and impact investing have also been challenged as potential havens for greenwashing. 

“The financial sector has a leading role to play in the transition to a sustainable and socially inclusive society. All financial decisions have impact, and it’s up to the financial industry to ensure that this impact is positive,” said Thomas van Craen, member of B Lab’s Standards Advisory Council and Managing Director at Triodos Bank Belgium, a Certified B Corp. “As a result, the engagement of the industry is necessary to achieve B Lab’s mission of transforming global economic system, and to do so meaningfully requires clear and ambitious standards to define what good practices across the sector look like, as well as practical impact management tools and other engagement mechanisms to help businesses achieve them.”

The financial services moratorium introduced is still in effect. This means B Lab is not currently accepting new B Corp Certification applications from financial services companies with more than USD $1 billion in annual revenue. Financial services companies below that revenue threshold may still be able to certify, subject to B Lab’s normal certification process under B Lab’s Standards V2.

In parallel, B Lab is continuing work to design new, dedicated standards for the financial services industry. These sector-specific requirements are still in development and will be introduced in a future phase of the standards rollout.

As this work progresses, B Lab will continue to share updates. In the meantime, financial institutions of all sizes can engage with B Lab’s tools, begin or continue measuring their impact through B Impact.