This series offers concise, structured overviews of the impact of customer-owned banks in Australia. It highlights their role in promoting competition, supporting communities, and advancing sustainability, focusing on their economic, social, and environmental contributions.

Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA) represents customer-owned banks, credit unions, and mutual banks in Australia. The organisation advocates for the interests of its members, promoting competition and ethical banking practices. COBA provides resources and insights to enhance customer-focused finance, supporting a sustainable and equitable banking sector for all Australians.

This report explores the transition from financial inclusion to financial health, emphasising the need for accessible, high-quality financial services. It highlights that while inclusion is essential, poor service provision or lack of financial literacy can undermine financial health. Public policy recommendations focus on financial literacy, consumer protection, and regulatory measures.

This report presents a multi-asset class decarbonisation framework aimed at bridging the global climate investment gap and guiding financial institutions in capital allocation strategies to decarbonise the real economy. The framework includes steps to set emission reduction targets, allocate capital accordingly, and monitor progress using metrics like the Net Zero Deviation Index (NZDI), while emphasising collaboration with policymakers and stakeholders.

The report discusses how concessional finance can accelerate the deployment of offshore wind (OSW) in developing nations. It analyses OSW's potential as a renewable energy source and highlights two key strategies for enhancing concessional finance. The report also explores the challenges of financing OSW projects, particularly in developing countries, and recommends technical assistance, regulatory support, and blended finance solutions to facilitate investment in OSW.

This report assesses the barriers and opportunities for scaling private sector investment in natural capital. It outlines key recommendations, including the establishment of a Nature Finance Accelerator, to drive financial flows towards nature. The study highlights the importance of overcoming low returns, small deal sizes, and high transaction costs to attract private investment.

NatureFinance focuses on advancing sustainable finance to address global environmental challenges, particularly biodiversity loss and climate change. It promotes innovative financial tools, policies, and partnerships that align financial systems with nature-positive outcomes.

This report provides a manual to guide financial institutions in implementing target-setting practices within the blue economy. It outlines the principles of sustainable finance, focusing on sectors like seafood and aquaculture. The document includes guidance for creating actionable targets, monitoring progress, and integrating environmental and social risks, with case studies and examples for practical application.

This working paper explores how open finance can drive financial inclusion by reducing costs, improving access, and providing better-suited products for underserved populations. Key building blocks—digital accounts, fast payments, and diverse financial providers—are essential for achieving open finance's potential, with case studies from Brazil and India highlighting successful implementation pathways.

This report explores emerging trends in nature-related litigation, focusing on biodiversity, deforestation, ocean degradation, and plastic pollution. It highlights the legal risks for the financial sector and calls for increased monitoring. Lessons from climate-related litigation are applied to nature protection strategies, impacting regulatory and corporate practices.

The report highlights the growing volume and diversity of climate-related litigation. It outlines legal trends targeting financial and non-financial institutions and governments, with significant implications for financial risks and reputational damage. The report emphasises the potential increase in litigation tied to climate disclosure laws, greenwashing, and corporate responsibilities.

This guide offers a practical framework for assessing the robustness of investment models used in finance. This report covers methodologies such as backtesting, cross-validation, and scenario analysis to mitigate model risk, providing investment professionals with tools to enhance decision-making processes and model reliability. The guide stresses the importance of aligning model outcomes with economic theory and offers insights into performance benchmarking.

The report outlines a vision of interconnected financial ecosystems powered by digital innovation. By leveraging technologies like tokenisation and unified ledgers, it aims to create a user-centric, inclusive financial system that lowers costs, improves access, and increases efficiency globally.

This report highlights the SPRING framework, aimed at integrating sustainability within private banking. It presents findings from a pilot study, emphasising the need for private banks to incorporate ESG in operations, improve risk management, foster governance, and engage clients on sustainability preferences. The report also provides actionable recommendations for private banks to drive positive environmental and social impact.

The report titled examines the role of financial influencers ("finfluencers") in shaping investment decisions, especially among Gen-Z investors. It highlights the regulatory challenges posed by finfluencers, explores their content's appeal to younger audiences, and provides recommendations for enhancing financial literacy and regulatory frameworks.

This report investigates whether high-interest payday loans are predatory by exploring borrower behaviour and the impact of regulatory measures. Using an experiment with payday loan borrowers, the study finds that while inexperienced borrowers are often overoptimistic about repayment, more experienced ones anticipate future borrowing accurately.