ING is the current Chair of the Equator Principles (EP) Association Steering Committee and Mercedes has been directly involved in the completion EPIII which was formally presented with the EP 10th anniversary on June 4 2013 in Amsterdam. In her role as Head of Environmental Social Risk, she is responsible for the development and implementation environmental and social risk policies and guides the assessment of environmental and social issues associated with ING’s business engagements. With nearly 15 years of experience in the international banking arena Mercedes has spent 10 years in dealing with environmental and social issues in the banking industry. During the last years she has been responsible to update all ING’s environmental and social risk policies, including mining and metals, energy and forestry risk policies. Mercedes holds a Masters in Business Administration and an Advanced Diploma on Sustainability by the Cambridge University.