International Relations

Finance Watch publishes Annual Report 2017

Brussels, 04 May 2018 – Finance Watch, the public interest group working to make finance serve society, published its Annual Report.

Finance Watch’s Annual Report 2017 describes our organisation's recent activities and plans to promote the public interest in financial reform, including a commentary on ongoing policy debates around bank regulation, pension reform, consumer protection and sustainable finance, among others. 

Prof. Rainer Lenz, the chair of Finance Watch’s Board of Directors, said:

“Finance Watch’s new strategy and spirit is clear from this report. We sense a real thirst for the changes that could help the financial system to become part of the solution to hot issues such as climate change, low productivity, inequality and political extremism. Our Change Finance forum last December showed that Finance Watch is well placed to make these links to a brand range of civil society actors, and with the right support we hope to do much more to build citizens’ voices in demanding true financial reform.”  

Benoît Lallemand, Finance Watch’s Secretary General, said:

“In 2017 our organization successfully transitioned to Finance Watch 2.0 – an evolution to adapt to a changing environment, building on the strengths demonstrated since our creation.  We have expanded our team with more outreach capacity and built expertise to help protect EU citizens and financial services end-users via position papers, consultation responses, speeches at public hearings, communications and campaigning. I am grateful to our stakeholders - including the many new faces who appeared at our side in the last year - for their support and vision as we develop this important work in 2018.” 

NOTES

Finance Watch will host a second Change Finance forum for civil society representatives in Brussels on 6 and 7 December 2018. Photos and the programme of the first Change Finance forum, held in December 2017, can be found here and in the Annual Report.   

Finance Watch advocates public interest outcomes in European financial policy and regulation. Our vision is for a sustainable banking and financial system designed around society’s needs.