Japanese Bankers Association adds breadth to global reach of International Banking Federation

20 May 2005

The Japanese Bankers Association (JBA) has joined the banking associations of Europe, the United States, Australia and Canada to broaden the global reach of the International Banking Federation (IBFed). The association will be represented on the IBFed board by its secretary general, Mr Nagao Hashimoto.

The IBFed formally became operational on March 30, 2004 and is the key international forum to address legislative, regulatory and other issues where there is a common interest and where it affects the banking industry globally. The countries represented by the Federation collectively have more than 18,000 banks with 289.000 branches, including around 800 of the worlds top 1000 banks which alone manage worldwide assets of over US$38 trillion.

The Federation, which is based in London, was formed to increase the effectiveness of the financial services industry's response to multi-lateral and national government issues.

Other board members are Donald Ogilvie, chairman, ABA International, David Bell, chief executive of the Australian Bankers' Association, Raymond Protti, president and CEO of the Canadian Bankers Association and Hein Blocks, chairman of the Executive Committee of the European Banking Federation. The chairman is Ian Mullen and the managing director is Sally Scutt, respectively chief executive and deputy chief executive of the British Bankers' Association.

Ian Mullen, IBFed chairman, said:
"We are delighted that the Japanese Bankers Association has become a full member of the International Banking Federation. The list of global initiatives which require collective industry attention continues to grow rapidly and issues such as capital adequacy, international accounting, anti-money laundering and other financial crime, corporate governance and business continuity planning are permanent agenda items. The Federation will now represent all the major financial centres across the world and its members activities will cover every time zone, reflecting the 24/7 nature of modern banking."

For further information contact:

IBFed Secretariat
Brian Capon, head of BBA media relations - (0) 20 7216 8810

American Bankers Association
Virginia Dean, executive director, communications - 202-663-7501

Australian Bankers' Association
Heather Wellard, director, public relations - (02) 8298 0411 or 0409 830 439

Canadian Bankers Association
Caroline Hubberstey, director, public affairs and media relations - 416-362-6093

European Banking Federation
Florence Ranson, communications adviser - 32 (0)2 508 37 34

Japanese Bankers Association
Hirotaka Koyama, manager, public relations division - 81 (0)3 5252 3752