The chairman of the Fundación “la Caixa ” and of CECA has renewed its three-year as chairman mandate of the Worldwide Savings Banks Institute and Retail Banks (WSBI) during the General Assembly held in Rome

The re-election is had held in the frame of the centenary's commemoration of the WSBI, with the presence of authorities as the chairman of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella. The Institute, founded in 1924, represents currently the interests of more than 6,400 financial institutions distributed in 78 countries all over the world

The companies associated with the WSBI sum a total of 13.25 trillion dollars of asset, give employment to 2.1 million people and they attend to 1,700 million clients, with a network of more than 220,000 branches. The priorities for the new mandate put the focus in the financial inclusion and social, the digitisation and innovation, the sustainability and the overall social responsibility and impact

“Every year, the companies associated with the WSBI allocate 3,500 million dollars to social initiatives. Our objective is arrive at the 5,000 million dollars in two years. Working together, will be able to arrive a lot further away and benefit the lives of lots more people and vulnerable groups all around the world ”, has emphasised Isidro Fainé

 

Rome, 31 October 2024.- Isidro Fainé, chairman of the Fundación “la Caixa ” and of CECA, it has been re-elected as a chairman of the Worldwide Savings Banks Institute and Retail Banks (WSBI, by its initials in English), during the General Assembly held in Rome, and that it has commemorated the centenary of the company's creation.

The meeting has had the assistance of authorities as the chairman of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella; the minister of Economy and Finances, Giancarlo Giorgietti; and the governor of Italy Bank, Fabio Panetta.

The members of the Assembly of the WSBI, that represents the interests of more than 6,400 savings banks and retail banks in 78 countries, have re-elected unanimously to Isidro Fainé at the head of the institution for the next three years. The German Peter Simon remains as a Managing Director of the company for this period.

In its discourse, Isidro Fainé referring to the centenary of the Institute is had: “Fulfill 100 years is an emblematic landmark in our history. Our founders were inspired in the ideals of the saving and of the social progress and they suited the bases of an Institute that has resisted everything type of economic convulsions, wars, pandemics and transformations technological”.

Similarly, the chairman has stated: “The members of the WSBI have reasons more than justified to proclaim that we are something more that mere financial institutions since, with the philanthropic stock, drive the social change and provide the human progress. Because know human nature, and are defenders of its freedom. We are also lovers of the justice and of the equity. And we do how much is in our hand to help to the most vulnerable”groups.

In this same line, Isidro Fainé has stated that “every year, the companies associated with the WSBI allocate 3,500 million dollars to social initiatives all around the world. Our objective is arrive at the 5,000 million dollars in two years”.

The chairman has also remembered that “in the WSBI use the celebrities three erres to synthesise our value system and of business culture: retail, to advert to our commitment with the clients; rooted, because we are committed to the territory; and responsible, for our commitment to society which were part ”.

Finally, the chairman has sketched the strategic objectives that the WSBI has established for the next few years:

  • Financial and socialinclusion: offer financing to the most vulnerable sectors of the town, maintain broad nets of branches that provide the access to banking services in person in the rural areas and remote, and attend to all sectors of the town, with emphasis in the older people.
  • Digitisation and innovation: ensure that its members and clients are good equipped with the tools, abilities and necessary knowledges, to thrive in the digital world, having always in account the ethical considerations.
  • Sustainability: promote Objectives of Sustainable Development of the United Nations, via substantial and specific programs investments.
  • Overallsocial responsibility and impact: the companies associated with WSBI are to the avant garde of this task, via the Obra Social and the philanthropic programmes.

 

Social and Philanthropic Board of WSBI, the Obra Social to international level

 The Social and Philanthropic Board of WSBI, chaired by Isidro Fainé from its creation in 2023, embodies deeply ingrained principles in the savings banks and the retail banks associated with the WSBI: the social investment and the contributions to philanthropic projects.

This Board serves as a platform so that the members of WSBI exchange ideas and they share the best practices, and promotes specific investments that they strengthen to the communities and empoderan to the most vulnerable people. Its labour camp covers six areas: reduction of the poverty, support to the young, promotion of the education, empoderamiento of the woman, attention to the great and environmental sustainability.

The companies of the WSBI allocate annually 3,500 million dollars to social initiatives all around the world. This figure, that has been duplicated during Isidro's last mandate Fainé as a chairman of WSBI (1,800 annual million dollars in 2021), highlights that the sector of the saving and the retail banking follows committed to the support and the channelling of private fundings towards the sustainable economic development, concentrating on the mitigation of the poverty and the educational advance.

They are part of this relevant organisation international actors with regard to Obra Social and philanthropy, as the Fundación “la Caixa ” and CECA (Association of Savings banks, its Banks and its Foundations) of Spain, the Fundación Social Group of Colombia, the To the Barid Bank of Morocco, the Fundación GSB of Savings banks of Thailand, the State Bank of India and the Sparkassenstiftung of Germany, among others benchmark companies.

 

100 years of the WSBI, a century of commitment social

Founded on 31 October 1924 in Milan, during the International Congress of the Saving, the WSBI is had become the banking association older world championship of the world, with 103 members in 78 countries. Throughout a century of history, the activity of WSBI has highlighted a long-lasting commitment of influencing positively in the life of the people and the communities all over the world.

Between on 28 and 31 October, the WSBI has commemorated its centenary within the framework of its 27th Congress World Championship. The meeting held in is had the Auditorium gave Confindustria of Rome in collaboration with the Italian Association of Foundations and Savings Banks (ACRI), paying homage to a historic path of innovation and commitment with the service to the company.

The Worldwide Congress has gathered to outstanding representatives of the banking sector to tackle the present and future of the banking, under the slogan 100 together years giving way to the future of the responsiblebanking, that sums up the vision and the commitment of the international organisation to give way to the next one was of the banking. Throughout various round tables and lectures, the participants have explored fundamental topics as the financial inclusion, the sustainable finances, the digitisation and the equality of gender in the financial sector, among others.