The Spanish Stock Exchange opens the trading session today Ringing the Bell for Gender Equality

Margarita Delgado, Deputy Governor of Banco de España, rings the bell accompanied by

(from left to right) Antonio Zoido Chairman of BME; Cristina Sánchez, Executive Director of the

Global Compact´s Spanish Network, and Beatriz Alonso, Head of the Equity Unit, BME.

• BME, Banco de España and the Global Compact join an initiative taking place in more than 80 exchanges worldwide

Today the Spanish Stock Exchange started the trading session Ringing the Bell for Gender Equality for the third consecutive year, a ceremony in which more than 80 markets around the world participate. The initiative - hosted by BME and the United Nations Global Compact’s Spanish Network - is part of the international movement Ring the bell for Gender Equality, supported by Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) and the UN’s Global Compact.

The Deputy Governor of Banco de España, Margarita Delgado, performed the Bell Ringing. Alongside her were the Head of BME’s Equity Unit, Beatriz Alonso and the Executive Director of the Global Compact’s Spanish Network, Cristina Sánchez. The Chairman of BME, Antonio Zoido was also in attendance at the event, which was attended by close to 200 people.

The meeting seeks to increase awareness that gender equality is essential to boost the world economy and highlights the importance of the private sector in this objective.

In her speech, the Deputy Governor of Banco de España stated: “We must continue making progress in removing the barriers, visible and invisible, which prevent women from making decisions freely. I believe there is a lot of potential to improve conciliation, favouring the full development of a professional career compatible with a full personal and family life, which, without a doubt, also implies sharing family responsibilities between men and women".

Cristina Sánchez, Executive Director of the Global Compact´s Spanish Network, stressed the importance that all actors work together to achieve equality between men and women, “a task that must be shared by citizens, the private sector and the public administration. The Global Compact´s Spanish Network works in a very active way on the Sustainable Development Goal 5, which addresses this issue at all levels, including the business field, and we believe that it is time to move from commitment to action regarding gender equality".

Beatriz Alonso, Head of BME’s Equity Unit, points out that gender equality is an unavoidable goal for all companies. “At BME this commitment is also reflected in the presence of women among the younger generations. Retaining talent and motivating our staff is key. This undoubtedly includes a commitment to promoting diversity in all its forms and throughout the entire professional career.”

BME has been part of the United Nations’ Global Compact since 2011 and since 2015 of the Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative, which seeks to increase awareness of good corporate governance.

All the photos of the bell ringing are available on Flickr through this link:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/archivobme/albums

Further information on the initiative:

https://sseinitiative.org/sse-event/2020-ring-the-bell-for-gender-equality/