Seventeenth Annual International Banking Conference
In collaboration with the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago held its annual International Banking Conference on November 6–7, 2014, at the Bank. The purpose of the conference was to address important current issues affecting international financial markets. The conference examined the state of the new global financial system as it has evolved in response to significant market changes and regulatory reforms triggered by the global financial crisis.
The global regulatory system has changed significantly since the Great Recession as both national and international regulators attempted to address perceived problems with the previous regulatory framework. Given these modifications, where are we? Have we gone too far and overregulated the industry? Have we made such significant adjustments to the regulatory framework and distorted market behavior, resulting in an adverse impact on the financial system’s ability to allocate credit and provide adequate liquidity to markets—thus having an adverse impact on the real economy? Have we relied too much on rules and supervisory oversight, and too little on market forces and oversight?
Alternatively, has reform been judiciously applied? Is the current environment much closer to the optimal one as a result of the recent reforms? Finally, has reform still failed to address the relevant problems that induced the financial crisis? Have we tightened down on the banking sector, and simply pushed problems to the less regulated shadow banking sector? Are too-big-to-fail banks still a significant problem in spite of efforts to improve on the failure resolution process? Is still more industry scrutiny needed?
Analyzing these issues will be the focus of discussion over the two day conference. More specifically, the topics considered include identifying how oversight and regulation of the banking sector and capital markets has changed; evaluating the reforms that were put in place; considering changes to the failure resolution process for systemically important financial institutions; analyzing the banking sector’s and capital market’s resulting ability to satisfy market needs; As the industry morphs into the new regulatory framework, have the major concerns coming out of the Great Recession been adequately addressed, or are additional adjustments still necessary?
These topics and more were discussed by international experts in each area from different professions and countries. In addition to these experts we are fortunate to have three very qualified keynote speakers that have each made significant public policy contributions and have advocated regulatory modifications in response to the financial events of recent years.
The make-up of the audience was internationally diverse. In past years, representatives from some 35 countries have typically participated with a wide range of backgrounds, including policymakers, regulators, practitioners, academics and researchers. The audience is also encouraged to actively participate in the discussions.
