
Capablanca signing the UN agreement
This is a guest post by Fernando Capablanca, president and chief executive officer of Union Credit Bank (UCB).
Now, more than ever, businesses are embracing an eco-friendly attitude. We encounter the infusion of environmentally friendly living in our everyday activities from supermarket chains with organic-only aisles to clothing stores selling apparel made of organic cotton. It’s becoming increasingly clear to many that the earth is in dire need for us to change and adopt a more sustainable lifestyle.
Therefore, it should come as no surprise that several banks are also embracing eco-friendly ways of doing business. Leading the pack in this movement is Union Credit Bank (UCB), a Miami-based community bank. UCB is the first community bank in the nation to sign the U.N. Environment Program Finance Initiative, which aligns the bank with environmentally friendly principles.
This pairing allows UCB to offer its customers “green” services such as hybrid car loans and green home equity lines of credit. Customers are offered loans at a reduced interest rate to help them purchase a new hybrid vehicle, an environmentally friendly home or a business as well as make improvements on their current home or business. Green incentives have also been implemented to encourage green builders. UCB provides funding with higher loan to value rations to help green builders borrow enough money to cover higher costs of construction, which later translates to an increase in asset value.
Beyond all of these initiatives, the bank truly understands that reducing carbon imprint begins from the inside. UCB’s Miami headquarters, located at 1150 South Miami Ave, is completely environmentally equipped; the building is registered as a “green building” and is considered to be a historical site. This alone has allowed the bank to acquire benefits such as tax incentives and zoning incentives.
The bank’s second branch located in the city of Doral (map), is entirely eco-friendly.
All the furniture, carpeting and flooring are made out of recyclable material. Not to mention the fact that UCB effectively reduces power and paper usage by encouraging paperless statements, offering electronic marketing brochures and installing a recycling program.
More recently UCB is in talks to sign an agreement with the Certified Green Partners as well as considering the possibility of adopting the Equator Principles.
About the author: Fernando Capablanca is president and chief executive officer of Union Credit Bank (UCB), a full-service Miami-based bank. With more than 40 years of banking experience, Capablanca founded UCB in 2006 and has overseen the bank’s expansion in South Florida.