Surfing the Wave of Uncertainty (19 IESE Banking)

According to Prof. Germán López-Espinosa, the Academic Director of the Meeting, the IESE Banking Meeting is where the intellectual debate on the banking industry occurs. And its 19th edition was no exception to that.
The topics discussed showcased it, with the takeover bid from BBVA to Banco Sabadell being one of the main themes discussed during the sessions.
César González-Bueno, CEO at Banco Sabadell, was present in the meeting. While his statements on the matter were restricted, as the market regulations severely limit what he can say, he did remind the audience of the board's position-to reject the offer-and the process that led to it.
Lola Solana, President of the Instituto Español de Analistas, said that we should look at a takeover bid like an investor does: as an opportunity. And Juan Aguayo, Partner at Cuatrecasas, stated that a takeover bid can't be seen as hostile, as offering money to someone to buy what they have is not a hostile act by itself.
The current level of bank consolidation was also discussed during the meeting. Sergio Vélez, South Europe Leader of FTI Consulting, highlighted the significant reduction in the number of financial institutions in Spain, stating that only a few have the potential to compete globally with US and Chinese banks.
Pablo Hernández de Cos, Governor of the Bank of Spain and Chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) used his intervention to announce the new countercyclical buffer policy, a macroprudential policy designed to limit credit fluctuations during the economic cycles.
Luis de Guindos, Vice President of the European Central Bank, considered it a well-designed, helpful instrument for preventing excessive credit adjustments during economic recessions.
One of the most emotional moments of the meeting was when Núria Mas, Professor at IESE Business School, took the opportunity to thank Pablo Hernández de Cos, for his work at the helm of the Bank and his commitment to its independence.
Looking at the future, José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, President at CaixaBank, exposed that one of the upcoming challenges in the banking sector will be payment methods due to data ownership. In this regard, José Antonio Álvarez, Vice Chair & Board Member of the Santander Group, expressed his desire for more access to SME data and a fair compensation model for data producers.
The meeting concluded with the intervention of Yuri Butsa, Government Commissioner for Public Debt Management at the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine. He explained that Ukrainian banks had to devise a plan to continue working at the risk of having their servers burned down, which consisted of moving the entire banking system to the cloud in just three months.
Also in the video:
Lars Faeste. EMEA President. FTI Consulting.
Bruce Kasman. Chief Economist and Head of Global Economic Research. JP Morgan Chase & Co.
Javier Díaz Giménez. Professor. IESE Business School.
Alejandra Kindelán. President. Spanish Banking Association (AEB).
Gloria Ortiz. CEO. Bankinter.
Mireia Giné. Professor. IESE Business School.
To know more: www.iese.edu/industry-meetings/