Expert committees

Complex contexts and problems require expert knowledge and a high level of commitment. Together with the expert committees, the IBF faces up to developments in the banking and finance industry and plays an active role in shaping them. The specialist committees deal with the topics of digitalization, sustainability, regulation, payment transactions and young talent.

Digitization

The megatrend of digitization is one of the central themes of our modern society. With its billions in gross value added, the information and communications sector has long since overtaken traditional industries. Established banks and stock exchanges are also seeing new competitors enter the market. Traditional value chains in the financial market are being broken up by intelligent competition – especially in payment transactions, lending, financing for start-ups, FinTechs, and investments and digital assets. The IBF addresses the rapidly growing digitalized world, with its impressive financial and IT architectures, in highly regarded topical events.

Sustainability

Sustainability is the guiding principle of many political and economic actions today. The European Union has committed itself to climate and energy policy goals. A central objective of climate protection policy is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Since the energy sector is responsible for a large part of the emissions, renewable energies are a key component in achieving the climate targets. Renewable energies are obtained from a sustainable source. They mainly include hydropower, wind energy, solar energy, biomass and geothermal energy.

The development of innovative and environmentally friendly technologies is of central importance. Sustainable energy sources such as hydrogen also hold great potential. The IBF committee “Sustainability” focuses on current developments in this area and demonstrates solutions for this forward-looking topic at top events.

Regulatory

Based on its neutral association platform, the IBF focuses on regulatory developments in the financial sector. The overarching topics are, on the one hand, the European System of Financial Supervisors (ESFS) and, since 2014, the EU Banking Union and the EU Capital Markets Union initiated in 2015.

The corresponding topics are extremely detailed in terms of breadth and depth. Current issues relate, for example, to the enormously dynamic developments in digitalization, Covid 19 measures, the prospective provision of own funds and liquidity, non-performing loans, financial and supervisory reporting, FinTech, RegTech and the EU taxonomy for sustainable finance.

Among other things, the IBF Committee deals with the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) in the eurozone as an essential component of the Banking Union. With regard to the 113 (as of October 2020) “significant” banks currently directly supervised by the ECB, the IBF has established the European SSM Round Table, a recognized network for the exchange of views and solutions on banking regulation.

Payments

Of all economies, payments are not everything, but without payments, everything would be nothing. Money and capital flows open up domestic and international bill-paying opportunities, keep operating and national economies functioning, fuel the operations of central banks and monetary policy, and enable commercial and investment banking. Global non-cash payments are growing at double-digit rates per year, to levels of many billions of dollars. Market participants estimate that only just over 5% of global money and capital flows are for the settlement of goods and services, the vast majority is without background from the real economy or even simply speculative in search of higher interest rates and arbitrage profits.

The IBF follows and analyzes the innovative developments in this competitive market par excellence and involves its members and friends in the dynamics.

Governance, Risk Management & Compliance

Governance, risk management and compliance are the skills that help a company deal with uncertainties, act with integrity and reliably achieve its goals with the help of a risk-conscious culture.
Regulatory developments in recent years are steadily increasing the pressure on the national and European financial industry to meet the increased legal and organisational requirements in these areas. It is becoming increasingly challenging to develop and apply a system-integrated, i.e. cybernetic approach.

The IBF expert committee “Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRC)” sees itself as a think tank for these topics. It aims to help keep track of complex business processes and manage them conscientiously so that the financial industry can be both economically successful and operate in compliance with all laws and regulations.

Promotion of Young Talents

The second generation of IBF members is already here! The IBF offers attractive opportunities to pursue career-related and academic goals. IBF events are popular with students and young professionals in banks, stock exchanges, financial service providers and other companies to gain professional development, make important contacts and build a valuable network at an early stage. Here, too, the IBF can best bring its motto “Banking is people and we connect the generations” to life.

The attractiveness of the IBF for students is increased by discounted membership fees.