(September 2019) The Panama Stock Exchange (BVP) held its XX Investor Forum, an annual event aimed at sharing innovations in the financial market of Panamá and its region. Sustainability was at the center of this year’s edition. The Forum traditionally attracts many participants, with a record of 700 for this year. One of the main activities during the Forum included a Sustainable Finance panel, in which important representatives of the sector participated. Among others: Carolina Barreto, Director of the Green Finance Program in Latin America for the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), Carolina Cárdenas, IFC Country Chief for Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua, Carlos Rivas, Leader of the Socio-Environmental Risk Analysis Committee of the national Sustainable Finance Workgroup and Gema Sacristán, Chief Investment Officer at BID Invest, who highlighted the importance of positively influencing organizations in applying sustainability principles. Gema Sacristán, Chief Investment Officer at BID Invest, was the keynote speaker at the Forum. During her address, “Responsible Investment and ist role in Sustainable Development”, Sacristán emphasized “the importance of sustainabilty for companies and the benefits of having social responsibility and environmental care strategies”. César Cañedo-Argüelles, CEO and Founder of CIFI also touched upon sustainability topics and proudly announced that CIFI was the first to issue green bonds in the country. Alexander Quezada García-Maritano, Head of Market Development at the Panama Stock Exchange Gerente was made responsible of the launch of the financial education programme of the stock exchange, aimed at enhancing literacy in the market to contribute to its professionalization for the development of the national financial market and enhanced competitiveness. Another panel of the Forum concerned Cybersecurity and involved Richard Benigno, senior executive sales leader de XM CYBER, Ignacio Blanco, Head of Latin America and Caribean at SWIFT, Bismark Rodríguez, EY partner, and Lilia Liu, Executive Director of LLASO. Following the panel discussions, the traditional award ceremony of the “Champions of the market” took place. Through the Forum, BVP keeps its promise of bringing together the most relevant topics in the market and the highest-level personalities in this and future events. For more details, you can access BVP press release here.