Money, Power, Change: The New Blueprint for Regenerative Finance

Jul 05, 2025

This week, we spotlight the financial sector—not as a monolith of exclusion, but as an evolving arena for systemic change. Our featured article, From Access to Equity: Toss Bank’s Approach to Financial Transformation, explores how South Korea’s Toss Bank is redesigning finance from the ground up. As the country’s first B Corp-certified bank, Toss challenges supplier-first banking norms by rooting every product in the realities of underserved users. From real-time loan comparisons to renter protections and digital tools for the elderly, the bank shows how user dignity can drive both innovation and inclusion.

Our Essential Reads expand this lens globally. In Europe, the EU’s RESTORE initiative pioneers biodiversity credits for land and sea recovery. In Africa, Altree Capital and Wave Mobile Money push regenerative finance and fintech to close equity gaps. From climate adaptation loans in Mauritius to green financing platforms in the Arab States, financial tools are being refashioned to serve people and planet alike.

In Research Corner, we turn to the paradox of socially responsible investing (SRI). A study in Administrative Science Quarterly unpacks how the very financial logic that enables SRI funds to emerge can ultimately undermine their social goals—reminding us that transforming finance isn’t just about tools, but about changing the system.

If you are interested in learning more about of leading investors are seeing responsible investing not as ideological or peripheral, but as a necessary evolution in investment decision-making, please consider attending the following webinar.

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Let’s dive into this week’s stories—where finance is reimagined not as an end in itself, but as a means to a regenerative, equitable future.

Featured Article:

In this Forbes article, I introduce Toss Bank, a South Korea–based digital bank redefining financial inclusion by shifting from access to equity. As Korea’s first B Corp-certified bank, Toss Bank challenges the country’s supplier-centric banking norms by rooting product design in consumer needs and everyday experiences—particularly those of underserved groups.

Under CTO Junha Park’s leadership, Toss Bank has rolled out more than 40 services aimed at breaking structural barriers—from joint loans with regional banks to fully digital tax-exempt savings accounts for elderly and disabled citizens. Features like “Receive Interest Now,” renter protections, and real-time loan comparison tools exemplify its approach to embedding inclusion into product strategy.

With over 8.8 million monthly active users and a customer base that includes a disproportionate number of low- to mid-credit individuals, Toss Bank demonstrates that inclusive finance can also drive market share. Its model shows how reframing finance around user dignity and access—backed by digital innovation—can transform the industry.

Essential Reads:

Biodiversity Finance Innovation

Supported by the EU’s Green Assist program, RESTORE is a pioneering investment vehicle aiming to mobilize private capital for biodiversity restoration through certified “biodiversity credits.” Projects include land and marine restoration in the EU and a pilot in Peru, with a focus on aligning investments with emerging European sustainability reporting frameworks.

Adaptation Finance Blueprint

Absa Bank Mauritius is pioneering climate adaptation finance in Small Island Developing States by scaling green loans for coastal defense, resilient infrastructure, and SME support. Its strategy aligns with Mauritius' climate goals and leverages partnerships with Proparco of the French development bank and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) of the World Bank to fund nature-based and resilient infrastructure projects.

Finance for Impact

Altree Capital, a provider of African asset management and investment advisory services, prioritizes regenerative business models to support early-stage African ventures tackling gender inequality and climate change. With catalytic backing from the Global Affairs Canada and the Green Climate Fund, the fund blends concessional and commercial capital to de-risk investments and attract private finance into underserved markets.

Regional Regeneration Partnership

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Arab Fund have signed a strategic agreement to co-finance sustainable infrastructure projects, with a focus on climate resilience, digital connectivity, and urban sustainability across Asia and the Arab region. This collaboration blends AIIB’s technical and financial capacity with the Arab Fund’s regional expertise.

Inclusive Finance Expansion

Wave Mobile Money, a financial technology (fintech) company focused on providing affordable digital financial services to individuals across Africa, has raised €117 million in debt financing to scale its affordable, mobile-first financial services. Wave’s model fosters financial inclusion by reducing transaction costs, boosting digital savings, and empowering women and small businesses across West Africa.

Greening Arab Finance

The UNDP’s Green Financing Platform (GFP) aims to transform how capital flows in the Arab States by connecting existing regional wealth—over $4.5 trillion in banking assets—with green, inclusive investments. Rather than creating new institutions, GFP supports smarter tools like green bonds, carbon pricing, and debt-for-nature swaps to expand fiscal space without deepening public debt.

ESG Rule Reset

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is overhauling its Sustainability Framework—governing $4.5 trillion in emerging market investments—to better address climate change, Indigenous rights, and financial risks. The update, due by 2028, aims to reshape ESG standards across global financial institutions, with broad stakeholder input and a focus on system-wide accountability.

Research Corner:

This Administrative Science Quarterly article investigates the paradoxical role of financial logic in the global rise of socially responsible investment (SRI) funds. Drawing on institutional theory and a panel dataset of SRI fund foundings in 19 countries (1970–2014), the authors argue that financial logic—commonly seen as a constraint to social goals—can both enable and inhibit the emergence of SRI.

By decomposing financial logic into “means” (skills, practices, and resources) and “ends” (profit maximization), the authors show that financial logic initially facilitates SRI founding by providing the technical tools and legitimacy needed to launch funds. However, as the financial logic becomes more dominant, its normative end goals crowd out alternative aims, rendering social investments increasingly illegitimate within mainstream finance.

The article offers a novel framework for analyzing institutional change and hybrid organizing by showing how dominant logics can simultaneously seed and stifle alternatives. It calls attention to the fragile space in which hybrid ventures like SRI can emerge—and to the institutional conditions necessary for their survival.

The regenerative business practices and sustainability innovations highlighted in this week's Regenerative Insights directly tackle the critical issues of corporate responsibility explored in my recent book explored in my recent book, The Profiteers: How Business Privatizes Profit and Socializes Cost.

Quick Takeaways:

Credits for nature: EU’s RESTORE rolls out biodiversity finance for land and sea recovery.
Islands fortify: Absa Bank fuels climate resilience with green loans in Mauritius.
Africa invests in equity: Altree backs early ventures tackling gender and climate gaps.
Arab-Asia link: AIIB and Arab Fund unite on resilient infrastructure.
Inclusion on call: Wave raises €117M to expand digital finance in West Africa.
Green trillions: UNDP steers Arab bank assets to nature-positive investments.
ESG rebooted: IFC reshapes global standards to center climate and Indigenous rights.

Regenerative Insights