Running order

00:00 Sara Pantuliano (ODI) – welcome and opening remarks

05:44 Odile Renaud-Basso (EBRD) – opening remarks

11:34 Odile Renaud-Basso – on the history and purpose of the EBRD

16:03 Odile Renaud-Basso – on the importance of climate finance in the EBRD's operations

17:17 Odile Renaud-Basso – on how the EBRD assesses the added value of its projects in relation to the transition mandate

22:23 Odile Renaud-Basso – on what's next for the EBRD and the decisions taken at the 2023 EBRD Annual Meeting in Samarkand Uzbekistan

27:07 Manfred Schepers (ILX Management) – on what led him to set up ILX Management, and how it can contribute to private sector mobilisation

38:03 Odile Renaud-Basso and Manfred Schepers – on the obstacles in the shift in the MDB model from one of ‘originate to hold’ to ‘originate and distribute’ and whether this is the right model for MDBs

45:19 Manfred Schepers and Odile Renaud-Basso – on why private sector mobilisation is proving so hard to achieve at scale, and what can be done to accelerate this trend

52:23 Odile Renaud-Basso and Manfred Schepers – on whether blended finance to mobilise private capital is part of the solution

58:21 Odile Renaud-Basso and Manfred Schepers – on the changes the MDB reform agenda may bring to the MDB landscape and the role of the private sector

01:02:53 Odile Renaud-Basso and Manfred Schepers – Q&A session

01:25:51 Sara Pantuliano – closing remarks

About the event

The need to mobilise the private sector has been at the heart of international discussions on how to finance and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and move the needle from ‘billions’ of dollars in development aid to ‘trillions’. The climate crisis and the push for investment in the green transition have thrown the urgency of this issue into sharp relief. While some progress has been made, much more remains to be done.

One multilateral development bank (MDB) that is specifically set up to engage with the private sector is the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). As part of ODI’s ongoing MDB Leaders’ Series, on Tuesday 30 May 2023 at 18.00 BST we will hear from EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso about the bank’s journey and experience so far, how its mandate has evolved over time, and what the future holds for what is a private sector-focused lender.

The event will open with a speech from Renaud-Basso. Coming out of the EBRD Annual Meeting, she will reflect on the role of MDBs as leveraging agents for shareholder capital, what more these banks can do to tackle the climate emergency and mobilise private climate investment, and the role of the private sector as a catalyst for change to achieve the SDGs.

Renaud-Basso’s speech will be followed by a conversation, facilitated by ODI CEO Sara Pantuliano, between the President and Manfred Schepers, CEO of ILX Management – a dedicated investment company managing a $1 billion SDG-focused emerging market credit fund. ILX Management provides institutional investors with access to investment opportunities of the development finance asset class by investing in private sector loans arranged by MDBs and development finance institutions.

Find out more about our work on multilateral development banks.