User:Paulio4prez/civic banking

 

Introduction
Civic Banking is the business model used by Spanish bank Caja Navarra. The model was developed by current CEO Enrique Goñi and began functioning in 2004, with the introduction of the “You Choose: You Decide” program.

As a business model, Civic Banking has sought to turn traditional banking on its head by placing the customer at the center of its business practices and ascribing them rights, while creating duties for Caja Navarra itself to follow.

The Five Rights
The five rights of Civic Banking are: 1. Social Project Work(allowing the customer to choose where CAN donates their money). 2. The Civic Account (knowing how much CAN makes from your money). 3. Project Accountability (understanding how the social projects are doing). 4. Volcan (Becoming a volunteer at the projects you support). 5. Know Where Your Savings are Invested (learning what CAN does with your money, and deciding where it should be invested).

In accordance with the five rights, Civic Banking works by creating networks, first for the social projects to reach out to bank customers. Second the customer networks with the community by choosing their favorite projects. And finally, the customers network with the projects themselves, by participating in them, and encouraging others to participate.

You Choose: You Decide
Civic Banking and its main program entitled “You Choose: You Decide” (encompassed in the 1st right of Civic Banking) or “Tu Eliges: Tu Decides” in Spanish has made the bank´s customers responsible for deciding which social ventures the bank should invest in and donate money to. Cajas do not have official share holders like a publicly owned commercial bank. Civic Banking has sought to incorporate the bank´s customers in a way that shareholders would be incorporated in a publicly traded company – by giving them the decision making power and thus making them feel more attached to the bank.

Officially started in 2004, “You Choose, You Decide” identified nine groups of social projects: disability and welfare, research, cooperation, environment, employment and entrepreneurs, culture, preservation of heritage, sports and leisure. Then, each time a customer contracted a product or service from Caja Navarra they would choose where the profits were spent in an effort to make the customer feel more in touch with the bank and with the community. This is very different from the other Spanish cajas, who choose their social projects and monetary allocation through dedicated boards. Thus in 2005, for the first time, 100 percent of 2005´s social budget was decided by CAN´s customers. The program was a great success with 82% of the banks customers choosing where to allocate their money in the first year alone.

Civic Banking Today
Since 2004 CAN has continued to innovate within their civic banking platform. These innovations include reporting to customers in an individualized document exactly how much money they make from the customer. The nine broad categories of social projects have now been expanded into over 2500 individual projects for the customer to choose from. In addition customers can propose their own social projects to add to the current list of over 2500 if they cannot find one they identify with. Caja Navarra also encourages its customers to participate in the social ventures they support.