The Latin American Federation of Banks (Felaban), which brings together more than 620 banks and financial institutions from 19 Latin American countries, will hold the annual session of its Board of Governors next Friday, 9 June, for the first time in Spain.
AEB, as an associate member of Felaban, has provided its support for the success and development of these meetings, as well as for the first Ibero-American Banking Meeting, which was attended by the Secretary of State for the Economy, Irene Garrido; the General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Jaime Caruana; and the Chief Executive Officers of Grupo Santander, BBVA, Banco Sabadell and Bankinter—José Antonio Álvarez, Carlos Torres, Jaime Guardiola and María Dolores Dancausa, respectively. Also participating in this Meeting were the President and Secretary General of Felaban, José Manuel López Valdés and Giorgio Trettenero, respectively, and the President of AEB, José María Roldán.
“It is an honour for us to welcome the representatives of all the banking associations of Ibero-America, with which the Spanish Banking Association has a long-standing and close collaborative relationship,” said the President of AEB, José María Roldán, during the Ibero-American Banking Meeting, in which he highlighted the benefits of the internationalisation undertaken by Spanish banks, both for their contribution to economic growth and for their contribution to social integration and financial stability in the countries where they are present.
In similar terms, Felaban President José Manuel López highlighted the importance of Spain and its banking sector in trade relations with Latin America, while the Federation’s Secretary General, Giorgio Trettenero, underscored “the importance of building joint work agendas between European banking and Latin American banking in order to consolidate a new stage of collaboration and develop new projects between the Federation and AEB, an institution that has been part of Felaban for more than twenty years”.
The presidents of around twenty Latin American banking associations will hold meetings with executives from Spain’s leading banks and several IBEX-listed companies. They will also meet with a number of Spanish and international authorities, including Javier Alonso, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Spain; Fernando Restoy, Chairman of the Financial Stability Institute; Irene Arias, IFC Director for Latin America and the Caribbean (World Bank Group); and Liliana Rojas-Suárez, Director of the Latin America Initiative and Senior Fellow of the Centre for Global Development.
“We believe that the exchange of views at this crucial time for Spain and Latin America will be a factor of mutual enrichment, with a view to contributing to the joint economic development of both regions,” said Felaban’s Secretary General, who also emphasised that “the Federation has accompanied the history and development of the countries in our region throughout its 52 years of existence”.
The Latin American Federation of Banks, created in 1965 in the city of Mar del Plata (Argentine Republic), brings together, through their respective banking associations, more than 620 banks and financial institutions from 19 Latin American countries. Through its congresses, competitions and international training programmes, Felaban has contributed to the promotion of financial education to improve the provision of comprehensive services to an increasingly informed consumer who is better prepared to make sound financial decisions.
