When I came across that line recently, it stayed with me. It prompted a simple but important question: if regeneration is truly about design, not just optimization, what does that mean for financial services? In sectors like apparel or manufacturing, the connection between design and environmental impact may feel intuitive. In finance, the impact is less visible but just as structural. The way capital moves through an institution, how deposits are used, and how success is defined are all design choices with real economic consequences.
This perspective is especially relevant when we look at how banks use customer deposits. Research from the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV) shows a meaningful difference between large global banks and values-based financial institutions, values-based banks lend close to 70 percent of their assets to the real economy, compared with roughly 40 percent for the world’s largest banks. This indicates that mainstream institutions direct a larger share of funds toward financial market activities rather than direct loans to households and businesses. The findings draw on ten years of comparative data and highlight how a focus on real economy lending correlates with sustained growth and resilience.
This distinction matters because lending to the real economy supports small businesses, affordable housing, community facilities, renewable energy projects, and local job creation. When a larger share of deposits is invested in financial markets instead, the connection between savings and community development becomes more indirect.
Understanding these structural differences clarifies what it means to say that regeneration begins with business model design. In banking, the core product may look the same: deposit accounts, loans, payment services. But the operational model determines whether deposits primarily fuel community development or circulate through financial markets.
At CNote, this idea of design over product has shaped how we structure our company. CNote is a woman-founded and led firm organized as both a certified B Corporation and a Public Benefit Corporation. These designations are not symbolic. As a Public Benefit Corporation, we are legally required to consider the impact of our decisions on stakeholders, not solely shareholders. As a B Corp, we measure and manage performance across governance, workers, community, customers, and environment.
One practical example of this structural approach is our own banking relationships. Many financial services companies use large, mainstream banks for their operating accounts. We instead work with mission-aligned community banks and credit unions for our own banking services. These institutions are committed to lending in underserved communities and directing a higher share of deposits into the real economy.
Choosing where we bank is not separate from our mission. It reflects an understanding that capital does not simply sit in an account. It moves. It finances. It shapes local opportunity.
Regenerative business practices require attention to these less visible design decisions. In finance, impact is embedded not only in the products offered but in how deposits are deployed, how governance is structured, and how accountability is defined.
If regeneration starts with business model design, then financial institutions have a unique responsibility. They determine where capital flows and who benefits from it. For organizations seeking alignment between mission and operations, examining these structural choices is an important place to begin.
