Sustainable Finance Live 2024: In conversation with Oxbury Bank

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The conference will focus on new innovations and bring together experts to brainstorm and strategize on how to solve future sustainability challenges in the financial industry. This year’s theme will focus on the value of natural capital and its transaction history.

In a series of interviews focusing on capital allocation for nature and climate projects, Richard Peers, founder of ResponsibleRisk and presenter of Finextra’s Sustainable Finance Live event, spoke to Tim Coates, co-founder of Oxbury Bank, on FinextraTV earlier this year.

Oxbury Bank was founded in 2021 to fill a gap in the financial industry, serving the agri-food sector and working primarily with farmers in its supply chain.

In the discussion, Coates explained that the agri-food industry needed “dedicated, expert support” and Oxbury bridged this gap by bringing a technology-enabled solution to market.

He emphasized that a focus on nature and climate is crucial for the agricultural transition and that political questions will also remain after Brexit. However, greater focus needs to be placed on addressing climate resilience, particularly in the UK, which is one of the most nature-deprived countries in the world.

Coates explained: “If we are unable to create a productive agricultural landscape that is healthy in terms of nature and climate, there will be no productive agriculture in the future.”

“Here there is not a trade-off between food security and nature that is sometimes discussed, but what we are saying is that we are about building resilience. We’re about supporting farms to transition to a new production paradigm that not only secures their long-term productivity, but actually adds value to society and society by restoring nature and adapting to the climate catastrophe we find ourselves in the economy as a whole creates.”

Coates continued that Oxbury Bank’s agricultural business model works holistically across the supply chain, in discussions with other stakeholders as well as farmers, producers and retailers about how to invest in natural capital.

Oxbury Bank is very concerned about environmental impacts and financial emissions and is focused on categorizing its lending to align with current policy frameworks and maintain sustainability standards where they are urgently needed, Coates said.

Register here for this year’s Sustainable Finance Live to stay up to date on discussion topics, networking and workshops that will take place during the event.