Revolution: Europe NGOs to counter banking lobby

Pressure group being formed to push for financial reform and counter the influence of the banking industry.

BRUSSELS: A clutch of European consumer groups, unions and non-governmental organisations are banding together to form a pressure group to push for financial reform and counter the influence of the banking industry.

The new group, Finance Watch, announced on Saturday that nearly 30 organisations will join the lobby, including charity group Oxfam, the European Federation of Investors, the European Trade Union Confederation and the BEUC consumers group. The new non-profit organisation, based in Brussels, will hold its first annual general meeting in June.

“Finance Watch is being created out of a belief that good financial services are essential for society and carry a strong public interest dimension,” the organisation said in a statement. A group of 22 Euro-MPs first launched the idea of creating Finance Watch last June as a “counterweight to the lobbying power of the financial industry on issues related to banking and the functioning of the financial industry,” the statement said.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 10^th, 2011.