Welcome to the April edition of the EPRA Industry Magazine. The beginning of the year was filled with many events and activities, most notably three successful Insight events in London, Brussels and Paris, the highlights from which you can discover in this edition. We also celebrated 15 years of Index partnership with FTSE and Nareit at the London Stock Exchange Market Open ceremony, an important milestone that I invite you to read more about in the magazine.

The uncertain situation we are facing today following the global COVID-19 outbreak is affecting each and every one of us, no matter the sector or the country. Numerous actions in all sectors have demonstrated that the European listed real estate companies are clearly rising to the challenge and are fulfilling their responsibility in protecting our communities.

Looking forward to later in the year, we hope that the EPRA 2020 Conference will take place, as planned, in Paris on September 8-10, but we will continue to monitor the situation and keep our membership informed.

Some of the topics we plan to cover at this year’s event include interest rate and monetary policy in Europe, which will be debated between Peter Praet, former Chief Economist at the European Central Bank and Lord King, former Governor of the Bank of England.  We are also counting on Sandeep Mathrani, the recently appointed CEO of WeWork, who will speak about the future of offices. Brendan Wallace, co-founder of US-based Fifth Wall, the largest venture capital firm focused on the global real estate industry and PropTech, will reflect on how industry consortiums can help propel real estate forward using technology and innovation. And much more to be announced.

As always, I would like to welcome our newest members: Columbia Business School, FCR Immobilien and Noval Property.

Stay safe.