The fourth edition of Banking Lab held today, an initiative of the AEB Foundation and CUNEF, focused on banks’ full readiness to contribute to the recovery of the Spanish economy after the pandemic through the efficient channelling of European funds to help drive a new productive model more firmly based on digitalisation and sustainability.
The Secretary of State for the Economy and Business Support, Ana de la Cueva, opened this online event on the role of the banking sector in economic reconstruction, attended by our President, José María Roldán; the Head of Unit in the European Commission’s Recovery and Resilience Task Force, Miguel Gil Tertre; the President of AFI, Emilio Ontiveros; and the Professor of Economics and coordinator of CUNEF’s Banking Lab, Santiago Carbó.
“Banking will play a significant role in the development of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, given the importance of the sector in ensuring stability and economic growth, and its potential to mobilise resources and provide financing,” De la Cueva noted.
In her view, the banking sector’s extensive reach, territorial presence and knowledge of its customers make it a key element for the economy of the future, as does its ability to act as a lever in implementing the four pillars on which the projects will be based: the green transition, digitalisation, equality and territorial cohesion.
During his remarks, the President of AEB, José María Roldán, stated that Spanish banks are ready to contribute their full potential to developing the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and, therefore, to participate actively in the recovery process of the Spanish economy.
“Our banks are a guarantee of efficiency and objectivity in the allocation of these resources and also have the capacity to maximise their impact, so their contribution to transforming our economy will be decisive,” Roldán stressed. Banks, he added, are accustomed to carefully assessing business projects, as they must protect the interests of their depositors.
For his part, the Director of AFI, Emilio Ontiveros, considered that the Spanish economy currently has an unprecedented opportunity to strengthen its growth pattern and to foster improvements in productivity and potential growth, while also highlighting the banking sector’s ability to drive innovation.
“The two transitions set out by Next Generation EU and the associated reforms may or may not guarantee higher immediate growth, but they will undoubtedly deliver much better growth in the long term: less vulnerable to future crises,” said the President of AFI.
