Frankfurt, Germany, November 11, 2016 – Strategic communications consultancy Deekeling Arndt Advisors, the German arm of The AMO Partnership, hosted a special debate to discuss the trends, solutions and challenges facing Europe. The event, which was held in Frankfurt and was attended by senior representatives of more than 80 financial institutions, was part of AMO´s strategy to host a bi-annual workshop, conference or seminar for clients to discuss the latest issues and trends affecting the world in general and the financial industry in particular. Guest speaker Prof Dr. Stephan Reimelt, President and CEO of GE Germany & Austria, spoke about Europe´s new reality of high volatility and slow growth. He said that the challenge for large global companies such as GE will be their ability to leverage size while adopting local values and a more localized approach to do business. When speaking about Brexit, he said that the real question was not whether it will be a soft or hard landing, but rather if Europe and the UK will be able to work together to bring back economic growth to a level of 2-3%. Prof. Dr. Reimelt believes that growth will be the only mechanism that could protect Europe. He also spoke about diversity and education and said that he emphasized the need to leverage them for Europe’s future success. And he stressed the need to have the right leadership to achieve these goals. The second speaker of the evening, Alexander Doll, CEO of Barclays Germany and a member of the bank’s task force dealing with Brexit, said that the impact of Brexit on the banking sector might be currently overstated and offered a more optimistic prognosis. He believes that Brexit could become a catalyst for banks to refocus on their clients´ needs. He explained that 60% of European trading is conducted out of London, and explained how difficult and expensive it would be for banks to move. However, he said that the fact that M&A activity has slowed considerably and that Asian companies were reluctant to invest, were already a consequence of Brexit. He finished his participation by making it clear that every bank will need to come up with a tailored solution that will entirely depend on individual customer needs. Finally, Matthias Diermeier, from the Cologne Institute for Economic Research, presented the results of a study conducted by the Institute on the various possible outcomes that Brexit might have in Europe. The four scenarios presented depended on the skills and flexibility of the UK and Europe when conducting Brexit negotiations in Brussels in the near future. The results of these will have tremendous impact on how much freedom of movement UK´s good will have in Europe, how big the amount of contributions the UK will contribute to EU households, and how restricted people will be when moving across countries. He concluded by saying that the worst case scenario would result if the UK plays hard and the EU plays soft as this would probably lead to other EU members wanting to start negotiations leading to an eventual breakdown of the European Union. These speeches were followed by a panel discussion with the audience. For more information, please contact:
| Volker HeckDeekeling Arndt Advisors M +49 174 333 45 07 (Germany) volker.heck@deekeling-arndt.de | Sarah AntenoreAMO Global Coordinator M +41 76 422 99 32 (Switzerland) santenore@amo-global.com |
About the AMO Partnership AMO is the leading global partnership of corporate and financial communications consultancies. Our best-in-class approach brings together local-market leaders with unrivalled knowledge of stakeholder perceptions, financial markets and cross-border transactions in the key financial centers of Europe, Asia and the Americas. Providing sophisticated communications counsel for reputation management, M&A and capital market transactions, media relations, investor relations and corporate crises, our partners have established relationships with many S&P 500, FTSE 100, SMI, CAC 40 and IBEX 35 companies. AMO brings a highly experienced international team that can advise clients conducting mission-critical projects on a global scale. Our integrated execution allows us to seamlessly service our clients across a multitude of jurisdictions and a range of corporate and financial communications mandates. www.amo-global.com About Deekeling Arndt Advisors: Deekeling Arndt Advisors was founded in 1995, and currently has 70 employees specialised in mission-critical cases and complex communication issues. Our clients are large companies listed on the German stock exchange DAX, MDAX and SDAX, as well as medium-sized companies from the energy, banking, insurance, transportation, logistics, chemicals, IT, and telecommunications industries. www.deekeling-arndt.de