–> This is a pre-event interview in the run-up to the Leaders in Sustainable Finance Event on February 1, 2024.
Jeroen: Thanks for taking the time, Nadine Klokke, CEO at Knab, for talking to Leaders in Finance in the run-up to the Leaders in Sustainable Finance event. First of all, could you briefly introduce yourself?
Nadine: Yes, Jeroen. Thank you for having me at the conference, I really look forward to it. My name is Nadine Klokke. I am a mother of four, which is one of my main goals in life. Aside from that, I am also CEO of Knab. We are supporting the entrepreneurs and the self-employed in the Netherlands in making life easy when it comes to their finances.
Jeroen: What is it that you particularly like about your role as CEO?
Nadine: First of all, I really like to work for the customer base that we have. The entrepreneurs, as the shoulders of our society, are extremely important. It makes me humble and grateful to be able to work for those customers. That is the most important part. Secondly, I was just telling you about the party that we had last Friday: I am extremely proud of and grateful for my team. Working with my colleagues and binding them together, making a joint direction and going there, building and creating together, developing together, making mistakes together and learning, that is the second thing that makes me extremely happy. And in my role leading that tract, being be able to form the right teams, being able to learn from the people I work with and from what the customers share with us, that is fantastic. Those two points are actually the most important factors for me.
Jeroen: That makes total sense to me. As you know, our event is called Leaders in Sustainable Finance. When you hear the words ‘sustainable finance’, what comes to mind?
Nadine: I always find the words ‘sustainable finance’ a bit abstract. Though within Knab we tend to talk about making it a better place; it reminds me of music, of binding and connecting people. And also about the fact that we all want to take care of the planet and the future of those we care about. So that is what I think about: how to contribute to make it a better place today and tomorrow.
Jeroen: This word ‘contribution’ is a great segue into the next question: what should the role of the financial service industry be towards a world within planetary boundaries or sustainable transition.
Nadine: That is a very difficult question, Jeroen. To me, in finance we can have a very helpful role because we facilitate businesses, we facilitate growth, and we can do that in a way that fits a healthy planet. At the same time, I think we also need to consider the equity questions. That is difficult because sometimes they are not aligned, or they seem to be conflicting. In the end, it is maybe not the financial institution, it may be the global leadership that should lead us in a right direction. I think it is a big question, I do not have the right answers yet. Sometimes I think you actually do not need a very democratic leader to bring us there, because it will come with a lot of pain and challenges; it will also cost a lot to go where we want to be. I think our role will be much more in facilitating, accommodating. But it is difficult to really set the longer-term overall direction.
Jeroen: Is it important for Knab, as you said earlier, to make the world a better place?
Nadine: I think it is an important driver for many of the colleagues I work with. We have a lot of young colleagues, who are clearly from different generations and way more aware. That does not mean that other people are not aware at all: I think it is on everyone’s agenda more and more. But still, there is a strong push from the youngsters in society. That really helps. I think you can also see in our business that even though we are relatively small, there is a lot of social empathy. We are sharing information, doing research, studying, opening up our business for not only our customers, but really for society. And we try to contribute to developing everyone who wants to grow into new entrepreneurial levels. So that is very important to us. Our customer assets are still relatively small, so our impact will be a bit smaller there compared to other bigger banks. But in the mindset within the organisation, inclusion and diversity are very high on our priority list.
Jeroen: As you said, there is going to be a lot of pain to deal with in this transition. But are there also things that you see as an opportunity, for Knab or broader for the financial industry?
Nadine: I consider the pain from a global community point of view, that really is a different viewpoint. For me, this is not a separate theory in our strategy. Working in a way that you contribute to make the world a better place is present in the whole organisation, in every objective of our strategy. I also do not think that this should be a sort of level playing field factor. It is something that we should jointly push to the maximum that we can accomplish. And of course, there are constraints because also our stakeholders want to have a sort of return and customers have certain expectations. Sure, you need to balance those in the right way. But I do not see it as a commercial opportunity to differentiate compared to others. I think that in general, we should help each other and share ideas to all become as sustainable as possible.
Jeroen: Right. You will be part of one of the panels at the Leaders in Sustainable Finance event. I am just curious: coming to the event, apart from contributing to the panel yourself, is there something in particular that you would find interesting to learn there, or any particular people you would like to get to know? In general, what will you be looking for in an event like this?
Nadine: For me, not specifically at the event but generally in life, I always appreciate meeting new people and listening to see what I, or we, can learn. That can be in an event like this, but it can also be at the market, it can be any place. Sometimes the biggest insights do not come from the most obvious places. I am just open to learning and to meeting new people, but I do not have a set agenda of what I would like to learn.
Jeroen: Just getting inspired by new people, that’s great! That’s it for now. We’re very much looking forward to learning more from you during the event. Thanks a lot for taking the time, Nadine.
–> This is a pre-event interview in the run-up to the Leaders in Sustainable Finance Event on February 1, 2024.