The Mediterranean Bank Network recently held its annual general meeting at Banco Popolare, a member bank that currently chairs the Network.

The meeting offered the opportunity to discuss further incentives to continually increase intra-network business and the sharing of opinions and experiences.

This ongoing exercise will be continued at the next official meeting this coming autumn.

Mediterranean Bank Network will soon be celebrating its eleventh year since it was established in the spirit of the EU’s Barcelona Declaration: Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. Membership is restricted to one bank per country.

The Network’s major objective is strategic collaboration between its members in all areas and the reinforcement of their relationships, and hence it contributes to the internationalisation of banks and economies in the Mediterranean. Member banks have an advantage due to the fact that all have a virtual presence in member countries without incurring the substantial costs required in setting up overseas branches.

The current members include three of the founding members namely Bank of Valletta (Malta), Nova Ljubljanska Banka (Slovenia) and Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie (Tunisia) as well as Commercial International Bank (Egypt), BancoSabadell (Spain), Hellenic Bank (Cyprus), Banco Poplare (Italy), Israel Discount Bank, Bank of Jordan and Zagrebacka Banka (Croatia).