The European Association of Public Banks (EAPB) held its General Assembly and CEO Conference on November 26 and 27. In his opening comments Mr. Philippe Mills, CEO at SFIL and EAPB President remarked that: “The huge crisis that we are currently dealing with coincides with the 20 years of existence of our association. During this time EAPB has become an indispensable interlocutor between national and regional promotional banks, municipality funding agencies and public commercial banks on the one side and the EU institutions on the other.“ He added that: “The presence of public banks and funding agencies is strengthening in Europe and our specific features are increasingly taken into account by public authorities, we have an important role to play in the upcoming developments of the European legal framework and the European response to the COVID crisis.“
On the occasion of the CEO conference Mr. José Manuel Campa, Chairman of the European Banking Authority (EBA) General Assembly elaborated on the COVID 19: Regulatory response, while Mr. Declan Costello, Deputy Director General, DG ECFIN, European Commission discussed the Implementation of InvestEU and NextGeneration EU.
At the General Assembly, Ms. Gabriela Pantring, Member of the Management Board of NRW.BANK (Germany) and Ms. Mari Tyster, Executive Vice President at Munifin (Finland) were appointed EAPB Vice-Presidents. Ms. Dr. Katrin Leonhardt CEO of SAB (Germany), Ms. Gita Salden, Chairman Executive Board at BNG Bank (The Netherlands) and Mr. Michele Vietti, President of Finlombarda (Italy) were appointed new Board Members of the EAPB. Mr. Philippe Mills, President of the EAPB and CEO of SFIL (France), Ms. Iris Bethge-Krauß, CEO at VÖB (Germany), Ms. Tamara Perko, President of the Management Board of HBOR (Croatia) and Mr. Sibil Svilan, CEO at SID Bank (Slovenia) were re-elected to the EAPB Board.
In his acceptance speech, President Mills stated that “the composition of our new Administrative Board presents an optimal balance from the point of view of geography, business models and gender.“ EAPB's newly elected nine-member board is composed of six women. Public Banks and Funding Agencies send a strong signal in favor of gender diversity in the workplace. Mr. Marcel Roy, Secretary General at EAPB commented:
“In Europe, promoting gender diversity is important for a fair and democratic society, the economy and most importantly for women themselves. We have achieved much progress but we can and we will do much more. A diverse Europe is, a strong Europe.“