Sustainable savings accounts

: opportunities, risks and relevant attributes

Abstract

The climate crisis has emphasized the need for more sustainable practices in all sectors of society, including the financial industry. While there has been a significant amount of research on sustainable investing and funds, there has been relatively little attention given to the potential for sustainable savings to contribute to the transition to a more sustainable future.This master's thesis aims to address this gap by conducting a qualitative study through ten expert interviews with finance professionals from Swiss retail banks. The research focuses on exploring the opportunities, risks, and attributes of sustainable savings accounts.The results of the study show that the main opportunities for banks in offering sustainable savings accounts are differentiation from competitors, higher margins, and simplicity of product setup. The main opportunities for consumers are the ability to align their savings with their values and make a positive impact on the environment and society, with minimal effort required on their part. The study also identified risks for both banks and consumers, including competitive disadvantage for banks, increased effort and potential reputation risk, and financial disadvantage and the possibility of banks misusing savings for consumers. Key attributes of sustainable savings accounts were identified and include interest rates, account maintenance fees, and transparency. These attributes should be used in further research to understand consumer preferences and to maximize the potential of sustainable savings accounts to fight the climate crisis in the long run.

Date of Award	3 Feb 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Sérgio Paulo Moreira (Supervisor)