TMB reveals ethical short-term deposits

Teachers Mutual Bank (TMB) has announced that its wholesale short-term deposits are now ethically certified by the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA), reportedly making it the first Australian bank to offer ethical short-term deposits.

This certification was awarded by the RIAA based on specific operational and disclosure practices, as outlined under the Responsible Investment (RI) Certification Program.

According to the RIAA, a product with RI certification:

• seeks to avoid significant harm
• makes honest and substantiated sustainability claims
• has relevant and accessible disclosures, including performance, holdings and sustainability outcomes
• explicitly and systematically accounts for ESG factors
• is underpinned by reliable and auditable RI strategies and processes

Certification excludes the products’ investment from 14 different categories, including tobacco, gambling, armaments, fossil fuels, or any large-scale greenhouse polluting activities.

Wholesale short-term deposits are the latest TMB product to be awarded RI certification, following new retail mortgages and deposits, which achieved RI recognition in December 2018, and a combined $1 billion debt issuance program for wholesale investors, initially certified in 2014.

According to TMB CFO Glenn Sargeant, the bank is the only Australian bank with retail deposits, mortgages and wholesale funding all certified as ethical and responsible.

“Now, every new mortgage or deposit with us is certified as responsible,” Mr Sargeant said.

“This is a tremendous achievement for us as it’s the culmination of something we’ve been working towards for many years. 

“Our aim is to be the most socially responsible bank in Australia – it’s something that’s very important to us and we know it’s also very important to our members,” he said.

[Related: Neobank launches to the public]