Agenda

Morning

08:30 – 09:00

Registration of participants and welcome coffee

09:00 – 09:05

Welcome

John Houston, Senior Partner, Kreab Gavin Anderson

09:05 – 09:35

Keynote Address

Michel Barnier, Commissioner for Internal Market & Services, European Commission

09:35 – 10:50

Session 1: Has Europe’s financial sector now put its house in order?

“Stress tests” may be uncomfortable for some of Europe’s banks, but most of the financial services sector across the EU is showing encouraging signs of recovery from the near-meltdown of two years ago. How durable is their recovery, and what are the odds on a return to instability? Where are the chief risks today and how best can their impact be minimized for businesses that depend on banks and other financial institutions? How are macro-prudential risks to the system to be identified and tackled? Are Europe’s banks adequately capitalised to cope with the possible restructuring not only of sovereign debt but also of other potential losses? Have clearing and settlement systems, especially for derivatives, been made stronger and more resilient? Are counterparty risks still as concentrated as before? What is a sustainable level of return on equity in the financial sector? Is industry tackling its own complexities and inter-connected risks, including the orderly winding down of financial institutions?

Moderator:
Jonathan Moulds, President, Europe, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Nigel Wicks, Chairman, Euroclear
Wolf Klinz, Member, European Parliament
Alberto Giovannini, CEO, Unifortune
Vittorio Grilli, Chairman, Financial Services Committee of the European Council, and Director General, Italian Treasury
Thomas Huertas, Acting Director, European Banking Authority, and Director, Banking Service, UK Financial Services Authority

10:50 – 11:15

Coffee Break

11:15 – 13:00

Session 2: Assessing the EU’s re-regulation effort

A new regulatory structure is emerging phoenix-like from the ashes of the 2008 meltdown, so how soon will we know whether it is stabilising the financial services sector? Does it also respond adequately to the ripple-effects of the eurozone debt crisis? Are the supervisory gaps laid bare some two years ago being plugged by the new structure? Could Europe’s financial markets be disadvantaged by the EU’s new rules on hedge funds and banker remuneration? And on rating agencies, would the EU have done better to deprive them of any sort of public franchise and so let them compete freely, rather than opt for US-style registration? What sort of new global deal do these difficult times call for?

11:15 – 11:30

Introductory Keynote Address

Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank

11:30 – 13:00

Panel Discussion

Moderator:
Freddy Van den Spiegel, Chief Economist, BNP Paribas Fortis
Willem Buiter, Chief Economist, Citi
Darcy Bradbury, Chair, Managed Funds Association & Managing Director, The D.E. Shaw Group
Sharon Bowles MEP, Chair of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, European Parliament
Maarten Slendebroek, Head of International Retail, BlackRock
Susannah Haan, Secretary General, EuropeanIssuers

Afternoon

13:00 – 15:00

Lunch Session (Invitation Only): Charting progress towards a new global rulebook

The worldwide economic and financial crisis has shown that we need to revise global regulation to meet the needs of both mature and emerging markets. Is the focus on micro-financial regulation blinding us to more fundamental shifts in global economic and financial relationships? What progress is in sight on eliminating the disparities and loopholes that have fostered regulatory arbitrage and encouraged the circumvention of local rules? Looking westwards, how serious is the divergence between U.S. and EU approaches to regulating financial markets, market infrastructures and accounting standards? What is the outlook now, after Basel III, for transatlantic cooperation on bank capital requirements? If Europe and America are unable to make common cause, what are the implications for the health and stability of their financial services sectors in the years ahead? Looking eastwards, how should bridges be built between emerging and mature markets? How effective is the G-20 proving as a consensus building forum?

Moderator:
Stefano Micossi, Director General, Assonime
Jonathan Faull, Director General, DG Internal Market and Services, European Commission
Liu Chunhang, Director General of the Statistics Department and Research Department, China Banking Regulatory Commission