Since HIP’s March 2008 Investor Roundtable on Banking, we have new information to share with you - and highlight a sustainable bank’s HIP commitments:

First, two financial institutions featured in HIP’s 10 HIP Places to Park Your Cash list have since received recognition as leaders in sustainable banking:

• New Resource Bank was a featured employer in a Fortune magazine feature on Great Green Careers (“Earth friendly jobs aren’t just about organic farming and installing solar panels. Meet the carbon traders, eco-bankers and corporate climate strategists shaping the new green economy.”) New Resource Bank opened in 2006 with around $25 million in capital and now has assets of more than $130 million (Inc.com).

• ShoreBank Pacific’s was recognized by Washington CEO magazine with a Green Washington Award as the “greenest” financial organization in the state. Out of 140 applicants in 12 categories, ShoreBank Pacific was selected amongst 25 Washington other companies honored at the inaugural awards event. At the end of the first quarter of 2008, ShoreBank Pacific had accumulated earnings of $252,000 and their assets had grown by 16% in to $175 million (banking-business-review.com). Read more >

The world is changing - and HIP Investors would be wise to remember the adage that the past is not the best predictor of the future. HIP companies (companies that are focused on sustainable, profitable growth), are best positioned to not only survive these changes, but to take advantage of them and leap to the head of the pack.

Big Oil (the top oil companies including BP, Exxon, Chevron and Shell) all reported high earnings and financial success in 2007 - BUT can it continue? As the New York Times reports, Exxon may have recorded annual sales of $404.5 billion, up 7 percent from 2006 but its capital and exploration expenditure increased only by$1 billion from the previous year. And, their profit was mostly a direct result of the near-doubling of oil prices last year. The Times reports that, “crude oil prices rose from a low of around $50 a barrel in early 2007 to almost $100 by the end of the year — the biggest jump in oil prices in any one year.” Read more >

We asked “How HIP is Your Bank?” and our HIP network replied.

Read the email reply from Wainwright Bank and learn more: Read more >

IS YOUR BANK HIP ENOUGH FOR YOU?

While BusinessWeek’s Oct. 29 online extra on “green banking” called out how Big Banks are setting goals for investments in “green” energy, retail banking customers have limited choices of HIP products - unless you live in Europe.

Does your bank improve the lives of customers, employees and society overall? How can you as a customer and investor encourage your bank to be more HIP? Read on, then call your bank to demand HIP ways to manage your money - and the Bank’s. Read more >

With Toyota (TM) having sold 1 million hybrids worldwide (half in the US alone); California Governor Arnold Shwarzenegger converting his Hummers to run on biodiesel and hydrodgen; the muscle-car design chief at General Motors (GM) inspired to create a post-peak-oil vehicle; and Tesla’s sold-out 2006 model year, electric cars are lighting up the showroom. Read more >