Trento, 16 June 2023 – On the 15th and 16th of June, the European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises (Euricse) held its 14th International Workshop on Cooperative and Responsible Finance for Development in Italy, in collaboration with Federcasse, the University of Trento and with the support of the European Association of Co-operative Banks (EACB). The two-day programme convened scholars from across the world to discuss challenges and opportunities shaping the future of cooperative and sustainable finance.
During the workshop, attendees participated in panel discussions, presentations of research papers and interactive sessions on developments in sustainability, digitalisation, future trends, and solidarity and proximity underpinning the growth prospects of cooperative banking.
Nina Schindler, CEO of the EACB, invited to pay opening remarks, declared: “The EACB is proud to support this remarkable event bringing high-quality research to the forefront of discussions on cooperative banking. The digital, sustainable, and intergenerational transitions are forcing us to rethink reality as we know it. For cooperative banks, emerging trends imply new opportunities, and challenges, to promote their business model specificities and, by extension, their impact values for regions and communities."
Zooming in on the sustainable transition, Maryia Sulik, Senior Advisor for Sustainability Reporting at the EACB, partook in a panel discussion alongside Lauritz Luttermann, University of Potsdam, and Matteo Alessi, Federcasse, moderated by Dr. Eric Meyer, University of Münster. Ms Sulik provided an overview of the state of the art in sustainability reporting and discussed the challenges for banks and their clients in adapting to changes in the reporting environment. She referred to the EACB's intensive work on sustainable finance regulations, such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive.
On the occasion, the EACB seized the opportunity to announce its call for papers for the “11th EACB Award on Cooperative Banking for Young Researchers”. More information can be found on the EACB Website. The deadline for submissions is 31 October 2023.