Barbara Baarsma

Barbara is an economist and professor of Applied Economics at the University of Amsterdam. She used to be the CEO of Rabo Carbon bank, and is currently a Chief economist at PwC.

Recently, she co-published a book named: Duurzamefinanciering (Sustainable Financing). She says, “Because of their enormous capital strength, banks should take a leading role and steer citizens and businesses towards sustainability with innovative financial services. The current wait-and-see attitude is no longer appropriate. Bankers feel they should not be expected to force companies to go green.

“We are not the climate police”, they then say. True. Yet bankers can do a lot more than they do now to help their customers go green.

How? You can hear about that at Flairs’24!”

Mathieu Willems

Mathieu has extensive experience within the Dutch banking sector – about 24 years of experience at ABN AMRO and Rabobank. Currently, he is the head of Strategy, Design & Innovation at Rabobank. 

That is the reason why FLAIRS have invited Mathieu to speak about the ‘future’ of banking. The significance of digitalisation, innovation, data, and technology is inarguable to stay relevant and competitive in a fast-changing environment. Mathieu will tell us more on topics such as on-going and newly identified trends for the Bank of the Future and the opportunities and challenges that come with, and more. 

Moreover, the topic of Banking’s digital shift has won the most vote as the most anticipated subject for FLAIRS’24 as per our Linkedin. With that in mind, we are thrilled to welcome Mathieu as our keynote speaker, and eagerly await his insights on the future of banking for the young professionals at FLAIRS!

Robert Swaak

Robert Swaak’s experience in Finance begins in 1988 from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). On this day, Robert is the CEO and Chair of the Executive Board at ABN AMRO Bank N.V. as of April 22, 2020. 

Based on his extensive level of experience, we have invited Robert to talk about the ‘present’ of banking, and more! At FLAIRS’24 he will talk on: Together, we can make an impact.

To give a little snippet of what may be discussed, we will quote what is said at Robert’s Linkedin, “Banking touches all sectors of business and segments of society. Through products and services such as mortgages, savings, loans and advice, we can make a meaningful social and environmental impact.“

More updates on speakers are coming, stay tuned!