In Bangkok, Thailand, the Fundación La Caixa and the Spanish Confederation of Savings Banks (CZECH) hosted the first meeting of the Social and Philanthropic Council of the World Institute of Savings Banks and Retail Banks (WSBI). The WSBI was founded in December 2023 with Isidro Fain serving as its president. During the meeting, topics such as contributing to Sustainable Development Goals, sharing success stories of member foundations, and proposing new collaboration projects to create jobs and support microbusinesses in developing countries were discussed.
Fain also presented three key social programs from the Fundación La Caixa and highlighted a recent agreement with the Sparkassenstiftung on Silver Finance, supported by the Inter-American Development Bank. The objective of the Social and Philanthropic Council is to facilitate exchange among members regarding their social work programs, provide guidance on global trends in philanthropy, and identify areas for important developments to improve global sustainability and stability.
The council’s members include international actors in social work and philanthropy such as State Bank of India, German Sparkassenstiftung, Grupo Social Foundation of Colombia, Al Barid Bank of Morocco, GSB Foundation of Savings Banks of Thailand among others.