Fair Bank Guide

Our perspective on the Fair Bank Guide

The Fair Bank Guide is an initiative by five civil society organisations (Amnesty International, Milieudefensie, Oxfam Novib, PAX, and World Animal Protection). They assess the Dutch financial sector against seven sustainability themes, considering both the institution’s own activities and the companies that the institution invests in or provides funding to.

Concerns on the assessment methodology

The intention behind the Fair Bank Guide is positive: making sustainability policies and performance in the Dutch financial sector more transparent and comparable through independent research. At the same time, we are critical of the assessment methodology chosen by the Fair Bank Guide. It presents a one-sided, unclear, or distorted view. We therefore do not recognise ourselves in these scores.

2026 review

The scores in the Fair Bank Guide’s 2026 report are based on three components: lending policy, Van Lanschot Kempen’s proprietary investments, and assets managed on behalf of clients. In our view, these scores do not provide a complete reflection of how Van Lanschot Kempen integrates sustainability into both its policy and day-to-day activities. Furthermore, the methodology does not sufficiently account for the differing business activities of the parties being assessed.

As an organisation, we have established specific objectives within certain sustainability themes in our policies. We monitor annual results alongside, for instance, our long-term climate targets for 2030 for our own operations and for 2050 for a selection of our discretionary assets under management.

Read our Climate transition plan

Specific concerns:

Van Lanschot Kempen is a wealth manager with a banking license, and therefore maintains a very limited, Dutch-oriented loan portfolio, focused on medium-sized and small enterprises such as medical professionals, lawyers, and accountants. By the end of 2024, around 70% of this portfolio consisted of mortgages. Under the Fair Bank Guide’s current methodology, we are assessed on components that are not proportionally relevant to our activities.
The Fair Bank Guide’s approach centres on excluding companies. However, we have a strong belief in inclusion and active ownership. We prefer to engage in dialogue with companies in which we invest directly via our funds and discretionary mandates. This is a deliberate choice, based on our conviction that it allows us to achieve greater impact. Exiting a company indeed results in a higher score in the Fair Bank Guide’s assessment, but also removes our ability to encourage those companies to change their policies. Furthermore, we deliberately accommodate clients’ differing sustainability preferences, meaning that not all aspects of our policy correspond with the Fair Bank Guide’s uniform and exclusion-driven approach.

Other sustainability ratings

Alongside the Fair Bank Guide, Van Lanschot Kempen is also assessed by various other sustainability rating agencies. These agencies differ significantly in their methodology, ranging from very broad (assessing all aspects of sustainability) to very specific (focusing on aspects such as tax, transparency, or climate). These rating agencies have been unanimous in their positive assessments of Van Lanschot Kempen for many years. This confirms both that Van Lanschot Kempen has developed a comprehensive sustainability policy in line with all international standards, and that this policy is integrated into products and processes, with transparent reporting - including in our annual report and our Stewardship and Sustainable Investment Report.

View our current ratings

More information

If you have any questions about the Fair Bank Guide 2023, other ratings or Van Lanschot Kempen's sustainability policy, please contact us via corporatesustainability@vanlanschotkempen.com.

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