On 23rd April, the Financial Forum of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce celebrated a new edition which was held for the second time this year at the offices of White & Case, member of the Spanish Chamber.
Founded over a year ago, the Financial Forum already counts on 25 permanent members from banks and investment funds such as Banco Santander, BBVA, Lloyds Bank, Bank of America / Merrill Lynch, HSBC, Barclays, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan among others, as well as top companies from different sectors like Telefónica, Ferrovial or Mapfre.
All the participants at the Financial Forum gathering at the White & Case offices.
This edition’s topic was “The Recovery of the Spanish Economy and the Foreign Trade Sector”. The host of the event, Eduardo Barrachina, introduced the guest of honour Jaime García-Legaz, the Secretary of State for Trade, who highlighted the strategic importance of the Financial Forum and its commitment in taking advantage of the potential of all the professionals gathered in these meetings.
Mr. García-Legaz started his analysis of the current situation of the Spanish economy, mentioning that Spanish companies are not only giving signs of a better performance but they are also recovering investor’s confidence. In this sense, he focused on the foreign trade sector where Spanish companies are managing to regain some competitiveness, and this fact has been translated into a surplus on the balance of payments for the last three years.
The Secretary of State for Trade, Jaime García-Legaz, during his speech.
Additionally, in the Secretary of State’s words, the mentality – or way of thinking – of business owners is deeply changing which allows them to understand that the whole world is their market; therefore, the necessity of exporting and taking one’s business abroad is essential nowadays.
Nevertheless, Mr. García-Legaz also called for caution due to the fact that the Spanish economy has yet to face several challenges and difficulties such as: the small size of Spanish companies and how to tackle developing countries’ markets.
Once the Questions & Answers round was opened, interactions focused on sharing different points of view as well as questioning the Secretary of State about different affairs, such as: the commercial relationship between Spain and the UK, the problems that Spanish companies face when establishing abroad and the nature of the most important exporting companies.
All the attendees networking and enjoying breakfast after the presentation.
Before the event’s closure, the participants of the Financial Forum had time to mingle andcontinue with the discussion while enjoying a delicious breakfast, courtesy of White & Case.
We would like to extend our gratitude to White & Case for kindly hosting this event as well as to Mr. García-Legaz, all our members and special guests for their participation. We hope to see you all in the next edition of the Financial Forum.