Highlighting the increasingly important role of emerging market players in the global financial industry, the Institute of International Finance’s Steering Committee on Regulatory Capital has appointed a banker from Columbia as vice chairman.

The committee, which represents the views of financial services firms from across the world in dialogue with the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, has appointed Jorge Londoño Saldarriaga, president of Bancolombia S.A., as its new vice chair.

“The coming months will see vital and potentially far-reaching decisions being taken by the Basel Committee that could significantly reshape the environment in which banks will have to operate for years to come. Mr. Londoño’s appointment underscores the essential need for these reforms to take into account the views of financial leaders from not only the major industrial nations, but also from emerging market economies,” said Dr. Josef Ackermann, chairman of the IIF board and chairman of the management board and group executive committee of Deutsche Bank AG.

Londoño stated, “I look forward to playing an active role on the Steering Committee on Regulatory Capital. Very recently, the Basel Committee expanded its membership to include key emerging market countries. Greater participation by both officials and bankers from emerging markets will now broaden the dialogue as we move ahead to frame a truly global regulatory architecture as envisioned by the Group of 20.”

The committee is chaired by Stephen Green, group chairman at HSBC Holdings. It also includes representatives from Canadian firms — Morten Friis, chief risk officer at RBC Financial Group, and Brian Porter, executive vice president and CRO global credit risk management at Bank of Nova Scotia.

IE