Opening of the XIXth German Banking Congress
30 March 2011 - Check against delivery
Andreas Schmitz Chairman of the Management Board of HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt AG, Düsseldorf |
Excellencies,
Lord Green,
Members of Parliament,
Ministers and State Secretaries,
My banking colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen!
The tragedy that is unfolding before the eyes of the world in Japan and the war in Libya demand that I open this Banking Congress differently from how I would have done under normal circumstances.
Our sympathy goes at this time to all the people who have lost loved ones. It goes to all those who are injured, sick or homeless and to all those who are missing kin. And our respect goes to all those who are risking their lives to save others.
We don’t know yet today how the catastrophe in Japan and the war in Libya will pan out and what questions they will raise. But we do know that the human suffering involved is infinitely more serious than any other dimension of these events, be it the economic, financial or energy-policy dimension. We are witnessing first and foremost human tragedies. This is something we should, I think, always bear in mind.
