Climate First Bancorp acquires ESG data platform Ecountabl

Climate First Bancorp, the holding company for US community bank Climate First Bank, which launched last year, has acquired tech start-up Ecountabl for an undisclosed sum.

Ecountabl, which indexes data on more than 10,000 companies, analysing their environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, will be integrated with Climate First Bank’s fintech platform OneEthos.

Climate First Bank customers will have access to the fully integrated ESG platform in 2023 and will be able to track how their spending aligns with their values.

Following the acquisition, Ecountabl CEO Andy Burr has been named chief growth officer of OneEthos. Justin Bretting, Ecountabl’s chief technology officer (CTO), has also been appointed as OneEthos’ new CTO.

“We founded Ecountabl to enable financial institutions to better serve their customers,” Burr says. “This acquisition ensures the technologies we built will have a positive impact in the world.”

The OneEthos platform offers a suite of ESG-focused fintech solutions for digital banking customers at Climate First Bank, including financing for climate-positive technologies and climate performance measurement and reporting.

Climate First Bancorp chair and CEO Ken LaRoe says: “Banks should make it easy for people to spend their money in ways that align with their social and environmental values.”