Download our Annual Report 2019 (20 pages)
Extract: this year’s letter from the Chair and the Secretary General
Dear friends and colleagues,
Thanks to your help and support, 2019 was a successful year for Finance Watch.
As we write this in May 2020, we still have not overcome the corona crisis. We wish you and your families well in this difficult period. As we reflect on these strange times and on our past year’s work, Finance Watch’s mission seems more relevant than ever.
Just to share a few highlights from 2019:
- We were able to help shape the sustainable finance agenda thanks to our membership of the Technical Expert Group. Our position on financing the European Green Deal is highly relevant to discussions on reviving the EU’s economy sustainably after the shutdown.
- Our staff continued their unrelenting advocacy for better capitalised banks. The expected wave of losses from the shutdown and the need for banks to support the economy in our current crisis show how important this work is.
- The team published recommendations to tackle financial exclusion and consumer over-indebtedness, which we hope will help to reduce hardship as the economic slowdown bites.
- Our expanding European network is becoming a very good base for campaigning, which in 2019 included campaigns on the EU elections and against Facebook’s Libra, among others.
It is also positive that we were able to welcome 19 new members last year, including 11 organisations and eight expert individuals from a variety of countries. The strength of Finance Watch, beyond the technical expertise, lies in its democratic legitimacy, and this is continuing to grow.
We have set ourselves ambitious goals for 2020 and have further strengthened our team to achieve them and to respond as fully as we can to the events unfolding. The Finance Watch family is very happy to have Thierry Philipponnat, former banker and first Secretary General of Finance Watch, back as our new Head of Research and Advocacy.
The current corona crisis clearly shows that the financial system remains fragile and lacks purpose. We cannot rest.
For this we need your continued support and trust in 2020!
Thank you very much,
Benoît Lallemand, Secretary General of Finance Watch
Rainer Lenz, Chair of the Board of Directors of Finance Watch
