FICS Summits
#FinanceinCommon2025
Summit 2025
Around 2000 delegates gathered from 26-28 February 2025 in Cape Town, South Africa, for the 5th Finance in Common Summit (FiCS), co-hosted by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) with the support of Agence Française de Développement (AFD). The 2025 Summit, held back to back with the 1st Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting of the G20 South African Presidency, brought together global leaders, public development banks, the private sector, and philanthropies to reimagine and reshape sustainable finance.
Under the overarching theme, “Fostering Infrastructure and Finance for Just and Sustainable Growth”, the Summit was an occasion to launch a consultation on a PDBs Reference Book summarizing the results of the FiCS Global Research Network3, agree on a collective contribution to the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), take stock of the work of the 13 FiCS coalitions, and discuss financial transformation and innovation to accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 2025 edition of the PDB&DFI database was also unveiled, a unique and comprehensive inventory of 536 PDBs and DFIs worldwide, detailing their mandates, 23 tn$ of assets, and geographic presence.
A dedicated program on Sports, Art, and Culture for sustainable development was also included for the first time within the main agenda, positioning these innovative sectors as a powerful lever to address global challenges.
The 2025 Summit in details
#FinanceinCommon2023
Summit 2023
For the fourth consecutive year, all Public Development Banks (PDBs) convened to strengthen their partnership and reinforce their commitments in support of common actions for climate change and sustainable development. This year's edition was co-hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank, CAF, Bancoldex and the Latin American Association of Development Financing Institutions (ALIDE).
The discussions focused around four key topics: SMEs and Financial Inclusion, Climate and Biodiversity, Sustainable Infrastructures, and PDBs' institutional agenda, with social mainstreaming and development impact, private capital mobilization towards SDG goals, collaboration with civil society and incorporation of human rights in strategies and programs as cross-cutting thematics alongside the Latin America and Caribbean perspective
The 2023 Summit in details
They discussed over the course of three days how to build new alliances for the future of development finance. The Summit highlighted the key role of all these actors in enhancing financial inclusion and small and medium enterprises as well as the financing of sustainable infrastructure, whilst creating the enabling environment and developing the adequate capacity and financing tools to support the fight against climate change and the protection of biodiversity, including through adaptation and nature-based solutions.
#FinanceinCommon2022
Summit 2022
This third edition was co-hosted by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), and with the support from all the members of the Finance in Common Coalition. It took place in Africa for the first time and accommodated a large in-person participation (over 900 guests in person and more than 1000 remotely). The summit focused on accelerating green and just transitions for a sustainable recovery, bringing together numerous public development banks (PDBs) as well as international organisations, regional networks of PDBs and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), civil society, regulators and private sector operators.
THE 2022 SUMMIT IN DETAIL
Additionally, building on research, PDBs no longer constitute a marginal wing of finance, but play a key role and create the conditions for sustainable solutions to emerge at scale. This research also provides concrete, evidence-based propositions to acknowledge the theory of change supported by the FICS coalition.
#FinanceinCommon2021
Summit 2021
This second edition was hosted by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), the Italian National Promotional Institution and Financial Institution for Development Cooperation, in partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and with the support from all the members of the Finance in Common Coalition. It gathered in digital format the whole development bank community, comprising more than 500 Public Development Banks (PDBs) and other key stakeholders (governments, central banks, private sector, civil society, think tanks and academia, etc.).
THE 2021 SUMMIT IN DETAIL
Moreover, governments of the G20 have formally recognized the importance of the FICS movement in the international financial architecture. The G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ communiqué of October 2021 welcomed the FICS Coalition and recognized the important role of PDBs in order to achieve the SDGs and the Paris Agreement goals.
#FinanceinCommon2020
Summit 2020
In 2020, FICS gathered all PDBs worldwide for the first time during the initial FICS Summit, which took place in Paris on 9-12 November. This first FICS Summit underscored the crucial role PDBs in reconciling short-term countercyclical responses with sustainable recovery measures that will have a long-term impact on the planet and societies. By reconciling the entire finance community in support of common action for climate and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the Finance in Common Summit was a key milestone on the way to the crucial events of 2021, notably the COP26, the COP15 and the Generation Equality Forum.
The first FICS Summit led to a Joint Declaration, in which PDBs agree to shift their strategies, investment patterns, activities and operating modalities to contribute to the achievements of the SDGs and the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
THE 2020 SUMMIT IN DETAIL
By reconciling the entire finance community in support of common action for climate and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Finance in Common Summit was a key milestone on the way to the crucial events of 2021, notably the COP26, the COP15 and the Generation Equality Forum.