Isidro Fainé, president of the La Caixa Foundation and the Spanish Association of Savings Banks, Banks and Foundations (CECA), recalled this Thursday the "social and human development" objective of savings banks and retail banks, which forces them to act in socially responsible way. According to Fainé, it is a factor "linked to the identity" of the same, part of their DNA and reason for being, without being "an imposition, a fashion or marketing", he said from Paris at the opening of the 26th world congress of the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI), which he chairs.
"Our way of doing banking is fundamentally different, it differentiates us from our competitors," he continued, stating that "we are unbeatable if we work, nobody stops us." In this day to day Fainé highlighted the role played by employees, who are the first value of firms and whose professionalism is a guarantee of success. "We have the tools and the determination to meet needs," he said.
Reviewing the situation, Fainé stated that the financial world is in the midst of social, economic and financial transformations. They go through the acceleration of digitization and new consumption habits, the reconfiguration of international financial relations and supply chains and a new era in inflation and interest rates, which have shown that they were not going to be at minimum levels eternally. Thus, "urgent and longer-term transformations" coexist.
The WSBI meeting, under the slogan "Rooted in the community, globally responsible", will bring together savings bank representatives for two days. The latest trends that are impacting savings banks and retail banks around the world will be addressed, from the geopolitical situation and the threat of deglobalization to the new regulation on sustainability, going through digitalization and financial inclusion or the role of banking sector in the post-covid economic recovery.
As a whole, the WSBI represents 7,160 entities from 63 countries, with a reach of 1.7 billion clients.
