The president of the «la Caixa» Foundation and of CECA, Isidro Fainé, has shown this Sunday his optimism regarding the future of the financial sector, which these days is experiencing real fluctuations unleashed by the fall of regional entities in the US such as Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and with all the pending market in Europe of the Credit Suisse future.
During the celebration in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia) of the International Meeting of Retail Banking Leaders 2023, the also president of the World Institute of Savings Banks and Retail Banks (WSBI), stated that “in recent years we have seen unusual movements in the interest rates, we have suffered a chain of financial crises and we have had to adapt to drastic reforms in the regulatory frameworks of the banking sector”. “We are immersed in a complex, uncertain and unstable panorama,” he acknowledged.
However, Fainé claimed to be “optimistic about our future.” During his speech at the forum, he made it clear that “we are conspired to continue building banking with a deep sense of social responsibility and make a more prosperous, sustainable and equitable society a reality.”
Fainé also recalled that “in this time of growing inequalities, our social work is more important than ever. In our business model we give priority to financial inclusion and we carry out a wide schedule of Obra Social activities”.
Priorities
The 2023 International Meeting of Retail Banking Leaders was held in the Colombian city of Cartagena de Indias under the title “Global trends in financial education, cybersecurity and sustainable finance”.
The issues addressed show the firm commitment of the WSBI and its member entities to the priority lines of work outlined during the last Assembly, held in 2021 in Paris and in which Isidro Fainé renewed his mandate as president of the world organization.
Financial inclusion, the promotion of sustainable finance, innovation, the use of digitization to promote closeness to the customer and the reinforcement of solvency within the Basel IV framework were the priorities set for the coming years that have become evident in this new event.
The WSBI, created in 1924, represents more than 6,400 savings banks and retail banks from 67 countries on five continents, whose total assets amount to 15.6 trillion dollars and which serve more than 1,700 million clients, close to 21% of the world population, offering financial services mainly to SMEs and families.