I am Chris Loker, previously a bank/investment exec who now consults to a range of financial services companies on business strategy. I am the founder of a sustainable finance company and have interests in other entrepreneurial ventures including wellness and entertainment. I have a Business Science degree from the University of Cape Town and other qualifications in finance. In 1990 I led a South African delegation to an international student conference in Japan on sustainable development and feel it's about time I got off the fence. 

I TEDx because, despite the performance anxiety of presenting, I think its an invaluable forum to challenge the prevailing mindset, particularly in business and most especially in the financial services sector. Solving many of the world's social and environmental challenges will require a re-orientation of the present economic models which in turn requires a transformation of the financial services sector. This can only happen by conversations on money moving from the fringe into mainstream, and to change something you need to first understand it.

My idea worth spreading at TEDxCapeTown 2012 is that the money industry is a essentially a simple one despite the mystique and opacity that the protagonists surround it in, so that they can charge more. Financial institutions should be in the background, enabling the real economy, not at the forefront as it is now. This transformation can only take place when individual savers and investors recognize their collective power and insist on greater accountability for the flow of money. We need change catalysts.