YO(U)nited we help: “OVB employees helping fellow OVB employees”

With the beginning of the Ukraine crisis, OVB adopted a clear stance. We utterly condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine as a general attack on our community of shared values.

Much has happened since then. The international community of the free world is standing shoulder to shoulder and vehemently opposing Russia’s aggression. We are particularly impressed by the solidarity, the cohesion, the willingness to help and the dynamics that have developed in just a few days, such as how people in the Ukraine’s neighbouring countries – Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Romania – are pitching in and trying to help their neighbours with what they can.

We too – OVB Europe as a whole – want to do more and provide more support! Our primary objective is to provide our OVB financial advisors and employees in Ukraine and their immediate families with rapid support that is appropriate to the situation, comes with no unnecessary bureaucracy and provides vital assistance in these tough times.

Therefore, OVB Holding and all 14 OVB national subsidiaries jointly launched an aid program. The motto – YO(U)nited we help: “OVB financial advisors and employees helping fellow OVB financial advisors and employees”. For this purpose, all representatives of the OVB national subsidiaries in Europe have resolved to establish an aid fund within the OVB relief organisation “Menschen in Not e.V.,” which has been provided with an amount of €200,000.

A social committee under the leadership of our Ukrainian managers can now decide quickly and without unnecessary bureaucracy how the allocation of these funds to their Ukrainian OVB financial advisors and employees and their immediate relatives, whether they need it, say, to ease financial problems, for healthcare or as a grant for travel and accommodation while they are fleeing. A further part of the aid fund will support the work of a Ukrainian aid organisation (yet to be chosen) through a donation.

Many of our more than 5,000 financial agents and employees across Europe want to provide additional help and have asked their national subsidiaries in the last few days whether and how they can do so. Coordinated by our OVB relief organisation, we have therefore launched an internal fundraising campaign. In this way, we are expanding our commitment, as we assume that the need for help will increase significantly.

The OVB Hilfswerk and our social committee will coordinate the processing of the assistance, without external help. This ensures that the funds are directly and fully available to our approximately 500 financial agents and employees and their immediate family in case of an emergency and that they actually reach where help is most urgently needed.

We hope to make a small contribution to alleviating the hardship of our Ukrainian friends and their families and to lift some of their current worries from their shoulders. Our thoughts and hearts go out to our colleagues in Ukraine.

OVB Holding AG | 08.03.2022

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