The opening of the second edition of the Latin American Congress on Sustainable and Inclusive Banking left a lot to analyze. For two days, the meeting brings together the leading exponents of the banking sector, financial inclusion and sustainabilityboth nationally and internationally, and takes place at the Libertad Palace (formerly CCK) in the City of Buenos Aires.
Organized by the Association of Public and Private Banks of the Argentine Republic (ABAPPRA) and the Latin American Federation of Banks (FELABAN), the conclave also featured numerous representatives from both the corporate and third sector.
During today’s morning session, in the opening session, and before a large audience, the Head of Government of the City of Buenos Aires, Jorge Macrisaid that “the challenges of sustainable finances are of fundamental importance in the global context.” In this sense, the Buenos Aires leader pointed out that “the financial sector is undergoing changes” and that there is an “adaptation to the bioeconomy” that is underway. “The agenda of sustainability and inclusion finds us as a government on the same wavelength,” said Macri.We cannot ignore the reality of climate change because we are challenged by new responses”, he said, adding that “there must be coordination between the public and private sectors”. At the same time, the Head of Government said that “the financial sector is a key player in assisting companies” and that there are success stories and experiences that “represent a privileged opportunity to continue building consensus and learning”.
Corporate governance and sustainability
In turn, the Magister Silvia Chaves, President of the Sustainable and Inclusive Banking Committee of FELABANsaid that “the banking sector that only worked for economic profitability is a thing of the past.” In this sense, he said that “today the interested parties are demanding a mandate from us, which is to generate environmental value, with environmentally friendly practices so that they generate a prosperous economy where no one is left behind.” “When we talk about sustainability, we have to talk about three major components, one environmental, where we are going to work on those risks that can endanger businesses, but that generate opportunities for change.” The second element mentioned by Chaves was “the social part, which is giving a human face to our operations, since when we are generating credit, we are accompanying people so that they can fulfill their dreams and companies so that they can boost the world economy.”Sustainability is the third element, where we talk about governance, “We often forget the ethical, transparent and robust practices of a solid corporate governance that can deploy human rights and sustainability policies throughout the organization.” Along these lines, he pointed out that “sustainability is a new way of doing business, always seeking the prosperity of our banks, but with an economic and social contribution.”
From macroeconomics to productivity
Another of the speeches that took place was that of Dario Wasserman, vice president of the Argentine National Bank. The director pointed out that “today we are witnessing a radical change. Thanks to President Milei’s unwavering commitment to fiscal balance, we are reducing inflation and recovering the Argentine peso as a vehicle for local savings and loans, leaving behind the recurring devaluations with inflationary impact that harm business calculations and eat away at the assets of individuals and companies.”
Wasserman said that “sustainability is often talked about in terms of sectoral policies or specific measures, but there can be no sustainability if there is no wealth, and there can be no wealth if there is no macroeconomic order.” Making a diagnosis of the Argentine reality, he said that “If you want greater sustainability, the way is to fix the macroeconomyto clean up the trade balance and to recover the credit capacity so that companies can improve their productivity. This is worth much more than any sectoral incentive that can be given to renewable sectors. The solution is more capitalism, not less. And a capitalism that seeks sustainability through state intervention in the long run cuts the branch on which it is sitting.”
“We have to take advantage of every opportunity we have to lift Argentines out of poverty. As the President said in the May Pact: nature must serve human beings and their well-being; not the other way around. And today, the main environmental problem we have is extreme poverty,” said Wasserman.
Financial education and public policies
Roberto Silva, President of the Argentine Securities Commission (CNV) He pointed out that financial education is conceived as being linked to inclusion. “At the CNV we are doing everything within our reach, the agreements with various entities and working on the regime of the suitable ones as an important part. Everything that has to do with sustainable banking is part of our mission and everything related to IOSCO, which is the organization that brings together all the securities commissions in the world.” In this line he mentioned the work carried out by CNV to support the path to entry into the OECD, “in which we have to implement the part of corporate governance, sustainability and climate change.” “We have the challenge of implementing the regulations, we want to guide ourselves and have the same tune in the adoption of international frameworks,” concluded Silva.
For its part, Pedro Inchauspe, director of the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA), He pointed out that “the present and the future are challenging for banking in Argentina and the region” and that “this congress allows us to see what is happening in the region, exchange ideas and design the best public policies.” “It is important to listen to the realities and problems that affect the financial system, in order to develop sustainable, financial and social products, with cleaner energy sources,” said the executive. “The defined axes mark a broad and necessary agenda, these are times of learning in order to then make decisions. Both technology and inclusion are complementary tools,” said Inchauspe and added “from the BCRA we take as an important paradigm the joint work with actors of the system, to be able to work on a working methodology table, to generate results together, consolidating ideas and thus improve the regulatory framework.”
Latin America, the most affected in terms of financing
In turn, and in front of more than 600 people, Giorgio Trettenero, general secretary of FELABAN, He said that “uncertainty exists on several fronts” and that there are various international think tanks “that consider geopolitical tension, financial volatility and climate change to be conflicting forces that put human beings at risk.”
“The rise in global temperatures is a cause for concern, as damage associated with natural disasters has quadrupled in the last five decades,” said the director. “In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, Latin America is not a source of problems at a global level, since it emits less than one percent of the polluting gases“We are not going to be able to afford to lose our resources,” said Trettenero. “On the contrary,” he said, “the region is terribly vulnerable to the problems of climate change, given the floods, the reduced supply of water and the landslides in the geography such as the Andes mountain range.” “It is paradoxical, since our region does not pollute, it is the lung of the world, but it is a victim and does not receive resources equitably.” “Nearly 90% of these resources reach North America, Southeast Asia and Europe, so our region is a victim, lacking sources of financing, since our markets are not developed and we do not have depth.”
“Another issue of great concern is deforestation,” said the Secretary General of FELABAN, “since the region seems to be giving rise to the destruction of the vegetal layers, vital for climate regulation.” He mentioned “fires,” the “expansion of the agricultural frontier,” and “intensive livestock farming” as some of the “causes of deforestation.”We need to mobilize capital to finance climate mitigation plans, to accelerate social inclusion and to do so we must generate incentives. Public policies must play a leading role, and the banking and financial sectors must facilitate the mobilization of capital,” he said. “This implies immense challenges to support the entire population; the banking sector has a fundamental role to finance, advise and help new business sectors, which have a positive impact in terms of sustainability.” “We need the credit offer to cater to companies that can contribute to projects that can be part of the solution to the problem,” he concluded.
Source: Ambito
