The president of the CECA savings bank association and the La Caixa Foundation, Isidro Fainé, has been appointed president of the new Social and Philanthropic Council of the European Savings and Retail Banking Group (ESBG) and the World Institute of Savings Banks and Banks Retailers (WSBI), entities of which he is vice president and president, respectively. For his part, the German Helmut Schleweis, president of the Association of German Savings Banks, has been appointed honorary president of the Social and Philanthropic Council. The appointments must be ratified by the WSBI council, which will take place in the coming weeks.
Fainé will lead, together with Helmut Schleweis, social commitment in the largest retail banking association in the world. WSBI was created in Milan in 1924, and currently brings together 96 members from 71 countries and includes almost 6,400 financial institutions and retail banks, with a total of 2.1 million clients and 13.25 trillion dollars in assets.
The new Social and Philanthropic Council was created during the WSBI board of directors held in Marrakech last October. The creation of the Social and Philanthropic Council represents a step forward for the WSBI and its members in their strategy towards a more committed and socially conscious approach to the global financial landscape, as explained yesterday by the CECA.
The main functions of the new Philanthropic Council will be to lead and promote the social work carried out by the members of the WSBI, giving visibility to the entity’s actions in the social field, reinforcing its role, and at the same time promoting the exchange of experiences and of knowledge. In addition, it will promote cooperation between members to develop joint initiatives.
Foundations linked to the banks and savings banks that make up the WSBI may form part of this Council. This is the case of the La Caixa Foundation, which will study forms of collaboration with the WSBI through the Social and Philanthropic Council. In this way, the La Caixa Foundation will foster new relationships with other foundations and international organizations, which will join its extensive network of collaborators.
WSBI, which will celebrate its centenary in 2024, includes 6,400 entities with 2.1 million employees who serve 1.4 billion customers in more than 71 countries, offering banking services to all types of groups, institutions, and large companies. , SMEs and families, with a network of 221,577 offices.
CECA is the banking association that defends the interests of savings banks and the banks created by them and promotes the mission they carry out through their financial activity and their Social Work.
