Fainé promotes sustainable and inclusive finance from the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI) Congress

The WSBI brings together more than 6,000 savings banks and retail banks from 65 countries serving nearly 2 billion customers worldwide

During the meeting, the Paris Declaration 2022 was approved, a document advocating for the promotion of sustainable finance to ensure the economic resilience of the communities in which they operate

The World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI), chaired by Isidro Fainé and which includes CECA among its main members, has concluded its 26th World Congress today in Paris, focusing on advances in sustainable finance in the context of the current complex situation.

Founded in 1924, the WSBI represents more than 6,000 savings banks and retail banks from around the world, with total assets amounting to $15.6 trillion, serving nearly 2 billion customers by offering financial services primarily to SMEs and families.

During the two days of the meeting, its members approved the Paris Declaration 2022, a foundational document that advocates for promoting sustainable finance to ensure the economic resilience of the communities in which they operate. Driven by WSBI’s global perspective, the declaration invites regulators to coordinate and harmonize different taxonomies, providing design principles that foster interoperability and mutual recognition. This measure can help promote cross-border sustainable finance while reducing compliance costs. In light of the need for a common language that facilitates comparability and avoids duplication of efforts, the Common Ground Taxonomy (CGT) EU-China is a promising first step in the right direction.

Isidro Fainé, president of WSBI, the “la Caixa” Banking Foundation, and CECA, inaugurated the meeting by stating that “feeling and acting in a socially responsible manner is inextricably linked to our identity. The fact is that we were born this way; it is part of our DNA, and it is our vocation. All of this translates into our way of banking, which is fundamentally different from that of other actors in the sector and is also profitable, efficient, and fair,” as he addressed more than 200 participants from all continents who gathered in person in Paris for the first time since 2018.

26th WSBI World Congress “Rooted in Community. Globally Responsible”

The World Congress in Paris was held in the French capital on July 7 and 8 under the title “Rooted in Community. Globally Responsible,” thus emphasizing the WSBI model of the 3Rs – retail, responsible, and rooted– as a necessary strategy to build a more inclusive and sustainable society.

Prominent experts linked to the financial world and from different jurisdictions debated the main issues of the current economic and financial agenda: regulatory harmonization in sustainable finance; digitalization and its impact on financial inclusion; and the broad scope of social responsibility in the recovery environments and geopolitical changes currently coexisting globally.

Ecologist and mountaineer Reinhold Messner, who advocates for a more sustainable development model and whose foundation helps mountain communities around the world cope with the consequences of global warming and the negative impact of excessive tourism, delivered a keynote lecture on sustainable banking in times of climate change.

Among the prominent representatives from the international regulatory sphere were Mairead McGuinness, European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services, and Capital Markets Union, and José Manuel Campa, Chair of the European Banking Authority. Meanwhile, Carme Artigas, the Secretary of State for Digitalization and AI of the Spanish Government, participated via video. Santiago Carbó, Director of Financial Studies at FUNCAS; Christian Castro, Director of Public Affairs at CaixaBank; José María Méndez, General Director of CECA; and Shlomo Ben-Ami, Vice President of the Toledo International Center for Peace and former Israeli ambassador to Spain, also attended this triennial meeting.

Promotion of financial inclusion, Scale2Save

As a parallel event to the World Congress, the presentation of the Scale2Save (S2S) program took place, which, after six years in operation, will conclude on August 31. This program, developed by WSBI in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, aimed to promote financial inclusion by establishing basic savings accounts in developing countries and financial education projects, thereby overcoming the barriers faced by much of the population in these countries in accessing financial services.

With 1,078,000 clients registered as of March 31 and a monthly activity rate of 20% over the past twelve months, S2S exceeded its numerical commitment to reach one million clients.

Thanks to its total budget of over $16 million, S2S successfully implemented projects in locations such as Ivory Coast, Morocco, Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda.

CECA and WSBI: common business model

CECA is an active member of international associations – World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI) and European Savings Banks Group (ESBG) – that represent the retail banking model prioritizing financing for families and SMEs, a model with which CECA’s member entities fully identify.

The link between CECA and WSBI reflects the effort to represent and defend the interests of their associated entities, for which it is present in national and international forums. WSBI helps savings banks and retail banks worldwide to thrive. It focuses on international regulatory issues affecting the financial industry and provides a platform for knowledge exchange among member institutions.

Isidro Fainé, president of CECA and the “la Caixa” Banking Foundation, renewed his three-year term as president of the World Institute during the General Assembly held last November in Paris. Among the priority lines of work established at that time for the coming years are financial inclusion, promoting sustainable finance, and exchanging best practices in implementing the new solvency framework and innovation, seeking to leverage digitalization as a tool to improve customer closeness. Now, the Paris Declaration 2022 reinforces this path established by the international organization a year earlier.