Unity Trust Bank Achieves A King’s Award For Enterprise In Sustainable Development

Unity is one of only 29 businesses to receive the award for excellence in this category.

The King’s Awards for Enterprise are amongst the most prestigious business awards in the UK and this year recognised 252 organisations for their contribution to International Trade, Innovation, Sustainable Development or Promoting Opportunity.

The awards celebrate the success of exciting and innovative businesses which are leading the way with pioneering products or services, delivering impressive social mobility programmes, or showing their commitment to excellent sustainable development practices.

Colin Fyfe, CEO of Unity Trust Bank, said:

“We’re honoured to receive the King’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development which recognises how we support socially-minded organisations across the UK and improve the lives of local communities. It’s particularly special to receive this award in the same week that we marked Unity’s 40th anniversary.

“As an ethical bank committed to a ‘double bottom line’ of delivering positive impact and commercial success, we’re so proud that our work in sustainable development has been recognised in this way.

“We believe our approach to supporting our customers to achieve their commercial and sustainability goals can play a crucial role in addressing key social, economic and environmental needs, helping to deliver real change where it is needed most.”

As part of its commitment to sustainable development, Unity uses customers deposits to support organisations that make a difference to society - including SMEs, housing associations, membership organisations, social enterprises and charities. Every loan proposal is reviewed for its positive contribution to society and aligned against one or more of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ensuring that the bank’s financing delivers quantifiable impact.

Colin Fyfe added:

“As we celebrate Unity’s 40-year heritage, it’s a wonderful achievement to receive this endorsement from His Majesty The King and the Prime Minister. Sustainable development is embedded into the foundations of Unity, and this award will further strengthen our ambition and drive as we continue to build on our proud history of delivering social good.”

The King’s Awards for Enterprise, previously known as The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, were renamed to reflect His Majesty The King’s desire to continue the legacy of HM Queen Elizabeth II’s recognition of outstanding UK businesses. The awards were first established in 1965 and since then over 7,000 companies have achieved a King’s Award.

Unity was founded by the trade union movement in 1984 to serve the common good. It reported a record level of lending in its end of year results in 2023 - exceeding £1 billion for the first time and growing 21% from the previous year - with 45.3% of financing going into areas of high deprivation.