Bank Information Center Europe Information

Bank Information Center Europe (BIC Europe) promotes ecological and social justice by ensuring development finance protects and does not harm people and the natural resources they depend upon for their livelihoods. BIC Europe was established in recognition of the important role of European governments and European civil society in the international financial institutions (IFIs), such as the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Europe holds eight seats on the World Bank’s Board of Directors, with over 30% share of the vote. Traditionally, European EDs have provided a progressive voice on issues such as human rights, climate change and transparency. In recent years, the European voice has been more muted and there is a need to reinvigorate Europe’s role as a champion on issues of social and environmental justice. BIC Europe also plays a key role in holding the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to account. The World Bank’s and Asian Development Bank’s traditional dominant shareholders, the US and Japan, are not members of the AIIB; however, European members Germany, France and the UK are all top ten shareholders, and the European constituencies hold two of the 12 Board seats. The UK heads the wider Europe constituency at the AIIB and Germany leads the Eurozone constituency. Together, European shareholders hold over 20% of shares in the AIIB and can be an influential voice. We organise our work around two themes: Rights and accountability: we support communities in their struggle for their rights to be respected and their voices to be heard, so that they benefit from rather than bear the costs of development. Ecological justice: the climate crisis demands urgent action from IFIs: to stop bankrolling fossil fuels, promote renewable energy, and stop forest destruction. But this must happen in a way that supports and does not undermine the livelihoods of local communities.