--- slug: frankfurt-european-banking-congress title: Frankfurt European Banking Congress fiche_model: llm-content-v1 last_verified: '2026-09-03' eventsindex_id: EI-07135 canonical_url: https://eventsindex.org/events/frankfurt-european-banking-congress.html next_edition_year: 2026 date_start: '2026-11-20' date_end: '2026-11-20' city: Frankfurt country: Germany venue: Alte Oper Frankfurt, Opernplatz, 60313 Frankfurt am Main organiser: dfv Euro Finance Group GmbH organiser_url: https://www.frankfurt-ebc.com b2b: true meta_description: "Frankfurt European Banking Congress: invitation-only banking summit at the Alte Oper, 20 November 2026, with ECB president Christine Lagarde speaking." editorial_take: "The only fixture in this sector where the ECB president has appeared almost every year since the launch of the euro, and where Germany's three largest banks, HSBC and the City of Frankfurt sit as co-hosts rather than paying sponsors, giving a one-day, single-city congress standing closer to a policy event than a commercial conference." language: en schema_version: v6.0 vector: sector: - economic-forums audience: - government - corporate format: - forum purpose: - networking - content geography_scope: - Europe season: autumn --- # Frankfurt European Banking Congress > *The Frankfurt European Banking Congress is a one-day, invitation-only congress on European banking and monetary policy held at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, traditionally on the penultimate Friday of November; the 36th edition runs 20 November 2026 under the theme "Europe in Action: Technology, Energy, Defence," with ECB president Christine Lagarde among the confirmed speakers.* | DATES | VENUE | ORGANISER | ATTENDANCE | |---|---|---|---| | **20 November 2026** | **Alte Oper Frankfurt, Opernplatz, 60313 Frankfurt am Main** | **dfv Euro Finance Group GmbH** , hosted by BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and the City of Frankfurt am Main | **Not publicly disclosed** | ## What is Frankfurt European Banking Congress? Frankfurt European Banking Congress (EBC) is a one-day, invitation-only congress on European banking and monetary policy, held at the Alte Oper Frankfurt since the early 1990s. It was launched in 1991 on the initiative of the International Bankers Forum e.V. and was hosted annually by Germany's Frankfurt-based banks and the City of Frankfurt am Main from 1992 to 2008. Since 2016 it has been co-hosted by BNP Paribas, Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank, joined by HSBC in 2019, alongside the City of Frankfurt am Main; dfv Euro Finance Group GmbH is the company named in the congress's imprint as responsible for it. The 2026 edition is the 36th, running under the theme "Europe in Action: Technology, Energy, Defence." Source: frankfurt-ebc.com, checked 3 September 2026. ## When and where does Frankfurt European Banking Congress take place in 2026? The 36th Frankfurt European Banking Congress takes place 20 November 2026, a Friday, consistent with the congress's stated tradition of running on the penultimate Friday of November. It is held at Alte Oper Frankfurt, Opernplatz, 60313 Frankfurt am Main, Germany, the venue used for the congress every year on record. As of 3 September 2026 the official 2026 programme page states the detailed running order is expected to be released in September 2026 and had not yet been published; only the date, theme and confirmed-speaker names were available. Source: frankfurt-ebc.com (homepage and Programme 2026 page), checked 3 September 2026. ## Who organises Frankfurt European Banking Congress? dfv Euro Finance Group GmbH, Mainzer Landstrasse 251, 60326 Frankfurt am Main, registered at the Amtsgericht Frankfurt am Main under HRB 49160, is the company named in the congress's own imprint as responsible for the site and its contents, with Andreas G. Scholz named as the person responsible. The same company operates EURO FINANCE WEEK, in which the congress sits. It runs the congress on behalf of five hosts: BNP Paribas (represented by chairman Jean Lemierre), Commerzbank (chief executive Bettina Orlopp), Deutsche Bank (chief executive Christian Sewing, who chairs the EBC for 2026), HSBC (Michael Roberts, chief executive of HSBC Bank plc), and the City of Frankfurt am Main (Lord Mayor Mike Josef). A steering committee drawn from the hosts selects the annual theme and speakers. The database's original entry for this event, Frankfurt European Banking Congress e.V., does not correspond to any organisation named on the official site or found in research; it appears to be an incorrect placeholder rather than the congress's actual operator and is corrected here. Sources: frankfurt-ebc.com/information/imprint/ for the operating company, /information/hosts/ for the hosts, checked 3 September 2026. ## Who attends Frankfurt European Banking Congress? No headcount is published by the organiser. Attendance is described only as invitation-only and capacity-limited, drawing "high level representatives from politics, business, finance, and academia," per the official About EBC page. The event listings site 10Times shows a figure of 98 attendees (unverifiable information): this is not attributed to the organiser anywhere in the sourced material, is not corroborated by frankfurt-ebc.com or by press coverage, and reads as inconsistent with a congress whose confirmed 2026 speakers include a national finance minister, a Eurogroup president and the ECB president, so it is reported here only as a flag, not as a reliable count. Sources: frankfurt-ebc.com/information/about-ebc/ and 10times.com/frankfurt-european-banking-congress, checked 3 September 2026. ## Who are the confirmed 2026 speakers at Frankfurt European Banking Congress? Published roster for the 2026 edition, drawn from the official speakers page, checked 3 September 2026: - Christine Lagarde, President, European Central Bank, Frankfurt am Main - Lars Klingbeil, Federal Minister of Finance and Vice-Chancellor, Federal Republic of Germany, Berlin - Joachim Nagel, President, Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt am Main - Kyriakos Pierrakakis, Minister of Economy and Finance, Hellenic Republic; President of the Eurogroup, Athens - Taurimas Valys, Minister of Finance, Republic of Lithuania, Vilnius - Jean Lemierre, Chairman of the Board of Directors, BNP Paribas, Paris - Bettina Orlopp, Chief Executive Officer, Commerzbank, Frankfurt am Main - Christian Sewing, Chief Executive Officer, Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt am Main - Michael Roberts, CEO of HSBC Bank plc and CEO of Corporate and Institutional Banking, HSBC, London - Mike Josef, Lord Mayor, City of Frankfurt am Main - Michael Hager, Head of Cabinet of Commissioner Dombrovskis, European Commission, Brussels - Maria Ferraro, Chief Financial Officer, Siemens Energy, Munich - Jan Goetz, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, QM Quantum Computers, Espoo - Beatrice Weder di Mauro, President, Centre for Economic Policy Research, London This corrects the database, which held no speaker names for this event. No session-by-session assignment is published yet: the 2026 programme itself was not yet released as of 3 September 2026, so which speakers appear in which session is not known. ## What's new at Frankfurt European Banking Congress in 2026? The 2026 theme, "Europe in Action: Technology, Energy, Defence," replaces 2025's "Investing in Europe," and the official Programme 2026 page frames the year around unlocking Europe's technology and artificial intelligence potential, mobilising capital for breakthrough technologies, and strengthening European industrial and defence capacity. The confirmed 2026 speaker list adds figures absent from the 2025 programme: Germany's finance minister and vice-chancellor Lars Klingbeil, Eurogroup president Kyriakos Pierrakakis, Lithuania's finance minister Taurimas Valys, a European Commission cabinet head, a quantum-computing chief executive, and CEPR president Beatrice Weder di Mauro. The date, 20 November 2026, falls a year after the 35th edition on 21 November 2025. Sources: frankfurt-ebc.com Programme 2026, Speakers 2026 and Programme 2025 pages, checked 3 September 2026. ## What's on the Frankfurt European Banking Congress 2026 programme? As of 3 September 2026, the official Programme 2026 page states the detailed running order "is expected to be released in September" and lists only the theme, "Europe in Action: Technology, Energy, Defence," and its three stated focus areas: unlocking Europe's potential in technology and artificial intelligence for productivity and competitiveness, mobilising capital for innovation and breakthrough technologies, and strengthening European resilience, industrial capacity and defence capabilities. The most recent published running order, for 2025, opened with registration and a welcome from the Lord Mayor, an opening address from the BNP Paribas chairman, a keynote from ECB president Christine Lagarde, two moderated panels (one of bank chief executives, one of corporate and institutional investment perspectives), an afternoon keynote dialogue with the Deutsche Bundesbank president, and closing remarks, run as a single day from 8:00 a.m. to roughly 3:15 p.m. Whether the 2026 running order follows the same pattern is not yet confirmed. Sources: frankfurt-ebc.com Programme 2026 and Programme 2025 pages, checked 3 September 2026. ## What session formats does Frankfurt European Banking Congress use? Based on every published running order on record (most recently 2025): a keynote address from the ECB president, moderated panel discussions among bank chief executives and among corporate or institutional participants, and one-on-one keynote dialogues with a moderator, run across a single day. There is no exhibition floor, no breakout workshops and no delegate-matching app: the congress is a plenary-only format, not a trade-show conference. Source: frankfurt-ebc.com Programme 2025 page, checked 3 September 2026. ## What side events run alongside Frankfurt European Banking Congress? The congress itself runs no separate fringe programme of its own. It sits, however, inside a wider week produced by the same organiser: dfv Euro Finance Group runs the congress as part of EURO FINANCE WEEK, whose 29th edition is scheduled 16 to 20 November 2026 at the Steigenberger Icon Frankfurter Hof, a different venue from the congress's own Alte Oper. Other named components of that week include an opening conference, a China Day, a Green Finance Forum and a EURO FINANCE Tech Day, though none of these is confirmed as formally attached to the congress rather than to the broader week. Source: dfv-eurofinance.com event listings, checked 3 September 2026. ## How much do Frankfurt European Banking Congress tickets cost? Not publicly disclosed. There is no ticket: admission is personal and by invitation only. Anyone without an invitation may submit a registration request through the congress's external registration portal, and the application is reviewed by the organiser; no fee is mentioned anywhere in that process, and no price appears on the official site, unlike some other invitation-only forums in this sector that charge invited participants a stated contribution. Sources: frankfurt-ebc.com/admission/ and frankfurtebc.com, checked 3 September 2026. ## How to become a speaker at Frankfurt European Banking Congress? Not publicly disclosed as an open process. The programme is curated entirely by a steering committee drawn from the hosting banks and the City of Frankfurt; no call for papers, no speaker application form and no open submission channel is published on the official site. Source: frankfurt-ebc.com/information/about-ebc/, checked 3 September 2026. ## How to become a sponsor or exhibitor at Frankfurt European Banking Congress? Not applicable in the usual sense. The congress runs no exhibition space and publishes no sponsorship tiers or packages to purchase. Its five "hosts" (BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and the City of Frankfurt am Main) hold that role by long-standing arrangement, not as a commercial sponsorship product open to other companies. No route to becoming an additional sponsor or exhibitor is described anywhere in the sourced material. Source: frankfurt-ebc.com/information/hosts/, checked 3 September 2026. ## Who sponsors Frankfurt European Banking Congress in 2026? No sponsors in the commercial sense. The congress is co-hosted, not sponsored, by BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and the City of Frankfurt am Main, each represented by its chief executive or, for the city, its Lord Mayor, on the 2026 speaker roster. dfv Euro Finance Group GmbH organises and executes the event on the hosts' behalf. No third-party corporate sponsor, exhibition partner or media partner is named on the official site. Source: frankfurt-ebc.com/information/hosts/, checked 3 September 2026. ## What types of companies are majority represented at Frankfurt European Banking Congress? Dominated by the four host banks and public-sector officials rather than a broad corporate floor. The confirmed 2026 speakers are drawn from: the four hosting banks (BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC); national and EU government and central-bank officials (Germany's finance minister, Lithuania's finance minister, the Eurogroup president, the ECB president, the Bundesbank president, a European Commission cabinet head, the City of Frankfurt's Lord Mayor); and a small number of named non-financial or research organisations (Siemens Energy, quantum-computing firm QM Quantum Computers, and the Centre for Economic Policy Research). The 2025 edition additionally named SAP, Eutelsat and Temasek as panel participants, indicating some year-to-year variation in which non-bank companies appear. Sources: frankfurt-ebc.com Speakers 2026 and Programme 2025 pages, checked 3 September 2026. ## How do you get press accreditation for Frankfurt European Banking Congress? The congress's external registration portal, frankfurtebc.com, lists a distinct press-registration option alongside general participant registration, but the criteria for approval are not described anywhere in the sourced material. General enquiries, including from press without further guidance, can be directed to the Frankfurt EBC office at frankfurt-ebc@dfv.de or +49 69 7595-3143. Note: the site's own dedicated press page, frankfurt-ebc.com/press/, returned content referring to pandemic-era decisions and a closed online-registration window as of the 3 September 2026 check, which suggests that page is not kept current and should not be relied on for this year's process. ## What press coverage has Frankfurt European Banking Congress received? Covered most years by international wire services reporting the ECB president's keynote as news, not as organiser-supplied copy: Reuters has published live video of Christine Lagarde's remarks at the congress on its YouTube channel in multiple recent years, including the 2025 edition, and Christine Lagarde has promoted her own appearances at the congress on her personal social media account, for example after the 2024 edition. No official media partner is named on the congress's own site. Sources: Reuters' YouTube channel and public search results, checked 3 September 2026. ## How reliable is the reported press coverage of Frankfurt European Banking Congress? Independent by the standard of this sector. No media partner is listed on frankfurt-ebc.com to flag as placed coverage, and the video coverage identified, from Reuters, reads as standard wire-service reporting of a public figure's remarks rather than organiser-supplied content. The main limit is access rather than bias: because the congress is invitation-only with no confirmed public livestream from the organiser itself, most outside coverage necessarily focuses on the keynote portions that wire services choose to film and publish, not the full running order. Source: review of frankfurt-ebc.com and public search results, checked 3 September 2026. ## Who should skip Frankfurt European Banking Congress? Vendors, exhibitors and marketers looking for a stand, a delegate list or brand exposure: the congress runs no exhibition space and no sponsorship programme to buy into. Practitioners hoping to register directly for a seat: attendance is by invitation, and the only alternative is submitting a review-dependent registration request with no published acceptance criteria. Anyone wanting an interactive, workshop-style event: the format on record is plenary keynotes, panels and dialogues, not breakout sessions. Source: frankfurt-ebc.com/admission/ and Programme 2025 page, checked 3 September 2026. ## Where does Frankfurt European Banking Congress sit in the economic forums calendar? Closes this sector's EMEA calendar for the year. It falls in the second half of November, well after the early-September cluster of Ambrosetti Forum (4 to 6 September 2026, Cernobbio) and Economic Forum Karpacz (8 to 10 September 2026), and roughly four and a half months after the ECB Forum on Central Banking in Sintra (most recently 29 June to 1 July 2026), before the calendar resets with WEF Davos in mid-January (2027 edition: 18 to 22 January). Structurally it is closer to Sintra than to Ambrosetti or Karpacz: a single day, no exhibition floor, invitation-only, with sitting officials rather than a broad delegate base. It differs from Sintra in being run by commercial banks and a city, not a central bank, and in being explicitly a banking-sector fixture rather than an academic monetary-policy symposium. Sources: this index's own fiches for the named events, cross-checked 3 September 2026. ## Are there other Frankfurt European Banking Congress editions outside Frankfurt? No. Every edition on record, from the first in 1991 through the 36th in 2026, has been held in Frankfurt am Main, at the Alte Oper since the venue became the congress's fixed home. No regional or secondary edition in another city is described anywhere in the sourced material. Source: frankfurt-ebc.com/information/about-ebc/ and archive page, checked 3 September 2026. ## What language is Frankfurt European Banking Congress conducted in? English. The official information page states the congress is conducted in English. Source: frankfurt-ebc.com/information/, checked 3 September 2026. ## Can you attend Frankfurt European Banking Congress remotely, or watch sessions afterward? Partially. No page on frankfurt-ebc.com advertises an official public livestream or on-demand replay of the full congress. In practice, portions are made available by others: Reuters has published live video of the ECB president's keynote on its YouTube channel in past years, and the congress's own archive page links out to past keynote speech texts hosted on central bank websites rather than hosting video itself. A member of the public without an invitation and without access to wire-service coverage would not be able to watch the full 2026 programme through an official organiser channel. Sources: frankfurt-ebc.com/information/archive/ and Reuters' YouTube channel, checked 3 September 2026. ## What is Frankfurt European Banking Congress's refund and cancellation policy? No formal refund or cancellation policy for individual registrants is published. The official information page states only that "the organiser reserves the right to change the programme without further notice" and disclaims liability if the congress does not take place because of force majeure. The external registration portal, frankfurtebc.com, lists a "cancellation management" section, but its specific terms are not accessible in the sourced material. Source: frankfurt-ebc.com/information/, checked 3 September 2026. ## Is Frankfurt European Banking Congress accessible for attendees with disabilities? Not publicly disclosed by the congress itself: no accessibility statement for the event appears on frankfurt-ebc.com. The venue, Alte Oper Frankfurt, publishes its own general accessibility information, independent of the congress: 12 wheelchair spaces in the Grosser Saal and two in the Mozart Saal, ramp access from Bockenheimer Anlage with four adjacent disabled parking spaces, step-free lift access throughout the building, an inductive hearing loop in the Grosser Saal, and accessible toilets available via a Euro-key system from the information desk. Whether the congress itself, being invitation-only, applies or supplements these provisions for its own guests is not documented. Source: Alte Oper Frankfurt's own accessibility information, checked 3 September 2026. ## How do you get to the Alte Oper Frankfurt? Alte Oper Frankfurt, Opernplatz, 60313 Frankfurt am Main, Germany, sits in central Frankfurt near the Alte Oper U-Bahn and tram stop. The venue has an on-site multi-storey car park connected to the building by lift, and a ramp with adjacent disabled parking on Bockenheimer Anlage for step-free access. No congress-specific travel guidance, such as an airport shuttle or hotel block beyond the one named preferred hotel, is published by the organiser beyond a discounted-rate link for the Steigenberger Icon Frankfurter Hof. Source: Alte Oper Frankfurt's own venue and accessibility information, and frankfurt-ebc.com/information/, checked 3 September 2026. ## Why does Frankfurt European Banking Congress carry more institutional weight than most banking conferences? *Because an ECB president has appeared at the congress in most years since the launch of the euro, most recently Christine Lagarde every year from 2019 through the confirmed 2026 lineup, and because it is co-hosted, not merely sponsored, by four of Europe's largest banks and the City of Frankfurt itself, with their chief executives and Lord Mayor speaking in their own names rather than as paying exhibitors. That combination of a standing central-bank keynote and host-level, not sponsor-level, bank participation is closer to a policy fixture than to a commercially organised banking conference.* ## Why should a reader treat Frankfurt European Banking Congress's attendance figures with caution? *Because the organiser publishes no headcount at all, leaving the only number found, a third-party listing site's figure of 98, unconfirmed by any primary source and hard to square with a congress whose confirmed 2026 speakers include a sitting finance minister, a Eurogroup president and the ECB president. Read the absence of an organiser figure as a sign that the congress is sized by its guest list, not by scale: it is built around a limited, curated audience, not a large one.* ## Where can I find official information about Frankfurt European Banking Congress? Official site: frankfurt-ebc.com. Programme 2026: frankfurt-ebc.com/programme-2026/. Speakers 2026: frankfurt-ebc.com/speakers-2026/. Admission and registration: frankfurt-ebc.com/admission/ and frankfurtebc.com. Hosts: frankfurt-ebc.com/information/hosts/. About EBC: frankfurt-ebc.com/information/about-ebc/. Archive: frankfurt-ebc.com/information/archive/. Contact: frankfurt-ebc@dfv.de, +49 69 7595-3143. Organiser: dfv Euro Finance Group GmbH, dfv-eurofinance.com. --- **Last verified:** 2026-09-03 **Next review:** 2026-10-01 **Notes:** Created from a bare-identity seed (name, seed website, city, country, sector, a one-sentence description) with no prior enrichment beyond n1_status: unverified. Verified the seed website, frankfurt-ebc.com, is genuine and not a shell: it resolves to the actual congress, consistent with independent references from the Single Resolution Board, dfv Euro Finance Group's own event pages, and press search results. City and country (Frankfurt, Germany) confirmed correct. Corrected one seed error: the database's organiser field held "Frankfurt European Banking Congress e.V.", an entity that does not appear anywhere in the sourced material; the congress is in fact organised and executed by dfv Euro Finance Group GmbH on behalf of five named hosts (BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and the City of Frankfurt am Main). This correction is made in the fiche only; the database record has not been edited, per project process, and should be corrected separately. The 2026 edition date, 20 November 2026, is confirmed on the official site itself (homepage and Programme 2026 page) and independently by search results, so no next_edition_year estimation was needed. Not verified: any organiser-reported attendance figure (none exists; a third-party aggregator's figure of 98 is flagged as unverifiable and is not treated as reliable), the detailed 2026 running order (not yet published as of the check date), a formal individual refund or cancellation policy beyond a general force-majeure disclaimer, press accreditation criteria beyond the existence of a registration option, and any congress-specific accessibility statement distinct from the venue's own general provisions. The database's economic-forums sector tag is confirmed appropriate given the congress's banking and monetary-policy programme and its position in the same calendar as Ambrosetti Forum, Economic Forum Karpacz, the ECB Forum on Central Banking and WEF Davos.