News

Tomorrow the Commission will present its legislative proposal for a common resolution authority for the Eurozone. This will follow the agreement reached at the end of June by member states, which ensures that deposits below €100,000 would always be protected, while other deposits from individuals and from smaller companies would be affected only after all other creditors had suffered losses.

In the meantime, far away from this complex legislative framework and jargon, more than 60 Belgian NGOs together with 40,000 citizens launched their own new Bank named New B on July 6, on the international day of cooperatives. 
What do these NGOs and citizens want? They want a bank that it is not focused on profit but on investment. They want a participative and transparent bank that invests in local, sustainable and real economy. They also want it to be accessible to all. As shareholders, they want a say in the future decisions made by the bank.

I’m not here to make any advertisement for that bank, but just to say how refreshing and hopeful this initiative is coming from the social NGO sector. For us, as Social Platform, this is in reality what we have been asking of the EU when we called for financial inclusion in the internal market. We want a banking union accessible to all, that is not associated with high rates of over indebtedness, and which protect the most vulnerable while ensuring the services that they need. 

New B, plan B…..maybe the 40,000 Belgian citizens are right. Maybe we shall not have to wait for banks to adapt to our expectations. Instead, we shall join banks that are in line with our principles or create the banks we want to use.

Let’s engage!

Pierre Baussand 
Director