International Summit of Cooperatives: Message of President De Censi

The International Summit of Cooperatives offers CIBP members representatives a unique occasion for reflection, discussion, cooperation and training on major trends, as well as on current and future economic and financial issues.

89 delegates from the CIBP members' regional banks, central institutions and national associations will join us in Quebec to share their insights, reinforce their international network and identify business opportunities.

14 representatives of our members had been involved in the round table exchanges and will share their insights and best practices with the "hungry" audience.

We are honored of supporting the organizers in this great endeavor not only as Silver Financial Partner and Communication Partner but also in taking an active scientific role in this outstanding event. It is natural to us as the core of CIBP mission consists indeed in teaming up with the relevant players in order to reinforce the business model of our members.

During the event CIBP has also organized a gathering for popular and cooperative banks and their key challenges. On Monday 10th October, in the framework of the CIBP Executive Committee, the first part will be dedicated to give an outlook on the Cooperative banking sector with a special focus on some geographical areas where CIBP is not yet represented. We will be honored to assist to the presentation of Mr. Bill Hills, CIO, Navy Federal Credit Union (USA), Mr. Armen Gabrielyan, CEO, Farm Credit Armenia (Armenia) and Mr. Hiroshi Takashima, Research Counsellor, Norinchukin Research Institute (Japan). The second part will be dedicated to the CIBP members key challenges. CIBP members will present their business priorities that also represent the basis for the current CIBP action plan: Financial education, Digitalization and Innovation, Branches network and proximity, Financial literacy for elected cooperative members.

Moreover, CIBP is also engaged in some cutting-edge activities with our Digital Lab, which is a critical component to our member banks' ongoing search for ways to identify and pursue growth opportunities as well as, deliver value to their customers, members and regional economies.

We are hosting the GRACE16 Hackathon. It is a strategic dialogue among cooperative leaders from different sectors on “Designing a Cross-sector Collaborative Ecosystem for Coops”. It aims at capturing the systemic nature of the way different coops can work together in a collaborative Ecosystem, and providing a set of practical and actionable insights to help managers create and capture new markets and discover new sources of profitability in the digital age.

Finally, CIBP has also organized the Forum no. 8 on "Cross-Sectoral Collaborative Ecosystem – Driving Future Business Strategies to Pursue Success and Growth". Our latest research GRACE16 will be presented and a high level exchange will follow.

I would like to thank our members for their involvement and the organizers, Desjardins Group and the International Alliance of Cooperatives for creating this magnificent opportunity to come together and explore global socioeconomic and geopolitical trends, examine the challenges facing cooperatives and identify ensuing business opportunities.