Invited by the Italian Bank Attica, a globally leading bank in the field of ethical and social finance, ACAD Finance from Palestine participated in a hearing session for the European Parliament in Brussels. ACAD Finance was presented by the Chairman of the Board of Directors Mr. Adnan Faramand, the deputy Chairman of the board of directors Mr. Dominque Lesaffre’ and the Executive manager Mr. Samir Barghouthi, while the session aimed to focus on the importance of social and ethical financing and the need to formulate legislation and banking laws for this type of financing. The Vice President of the European Parliament, a large group of parliamentarians, experts, the representative of the Republic of Italy in the European Union, and representatives of several financial institutions working in this field at the European and international levels attended the session. The Vice President of the European Parliament, Mr. Fabio Massimo Cstlero, opened the conference and he spoke about the importance of the conference and welcomed the participants especially ACAD’s Finance delegation who came specially from Palestine to share their experiences in the difficult context of Palestine. 

 In his keynote, Mr. Faramand gave a detailed explanation of the economical and political conditions experienced by the Palestinian areas, the high rates of poverty and unemployment and the siege imposed on the Palestinians living in Gaza Strip. He also pointed out the political attempts to weaken the National Authority through the financial siege and the besieging of its capabilities to fulfil its obligations towards the Palestinians, in preparation for imposing a solution that is not consistent with the aspirations of the Palestinian people. Mr. Faramand requested for activating Europe’s political and economical role and supporting the Palestinian people in achieving their independent national state. In this context, the vice president of the European Parliament affirmed his support for the fair demands of the Palestinian people and expressed his desire to visit Palestine as soon as possible.

 Prepared by a group of international experts, Attica Bank presented the annual report of the ethical and social sector on the European and global levels. The report concluded that the ethical financing is accelerating after the global banking crisis of 2008, which was caused by the pursuit of rapid and outrageous profits by the leaders of global commercial banks. The report pointed out that growth rates, sustainability and even profitability in ethical and social financing sector are higher than in commercial banks. The report asked the legislative authorities and banking supervisory bodies to adopt instructions and legislation that take into consideration the ethical and social message of this type of funding.