Finance Watch elected its first board, chairperson and secretary general at its inaugural Annual General Meeting in Brussels. Finance Watch is a new European organisation created to represent the public interest in the reform of financial regulations.

The new non-profit organisation will operate through a dedicated staff of former financial professionals and will interact extensively with its members, which represent a broad cross-section of society in countries throughout Europe. Today’s meeting elected a new board, which has appointed as Secretary General Thierry Philipponnat, a former banker turned executive board member at Amnesty International in France.

Mr Philipponnat said: “Today sees the birth of a new organisation dedicated to restoring balance in the debate about financial reform. The level of enthusiasm for this project from our members and the general public has been overwhelming; it will be a privilege to lead Finance Watch in promoting a more society-friendly financial system”.

Qualified member, Ms van den Burg, underlined the special position of Finance Watch in the EU decision-making community: “We are convinced that there is a strong appetite among policy-makers for counter-expertise from civil society. Finance Watch should be able to open doors as representatives of a different perspective. The financial industry may have the money but we have the sympathy”.

The board of Finance Watch includes representatives of six member organisations and three individual qualified members. The organisations are the European Consumers' Organisation (BEUC), the Fédération Européenne des Epargnants (EuroInvestors), the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), UNI Europa, Friends of the Earth, and Transparency International. The individual qualified members are Ieke van den Burg, Philippe Loumeau and Wolfgang Koehler.

Press release