The Future of Regulatory Reform CEPR has just held its first conference on financial regulation - The Future of Regulatory Reform - bringing together senior policymakers, leading academics and industry practitioners. Had this event taken place five years ago, the attendance would have been quite different. Those invited may well have accepted, but no doubt something would have come up. Client meetings, political briefings and PhD defences would have suddenly needed urgent attention. And the traffic would have been just awful. But this is 2010, and the room was packed. Even with London's underground rail service blighted by strikes, one delegate walked for over an hour to arrive on time. As another attendee put it, regulation is now sexy. Why the change in attitude? A simple answer would be that the world has just been through the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression, and that the pain is not over. Yet this is perhaps too straightforward. As those attending agreed, the future will be anything but. The event's co-organisers, CEPR President Richard Portes and Patricia Jackson, partner at Ernst & Young and board member at CEPR, argue that the timing is crucial. With the new regulatory landscape being decided by the end of this year, there is still active debate over several areas. For many, this crisis should not be wasted. It offers a window of opportunity that has never been so wide open. José María Roldán of the Bank of Spain made the point that the regulatory body is by its nature static and the financial industry dynamic. For the first time though, says Jochen Sanio, President of the German financial regulator BaFin, the bank lobbyists are outside the room. 'Now', he argues, 'is the hour of the regulator.' Read more A central theme of the day was the need for 'bank resolution' - a code of conduct for the next time a systemically important financial institution (SIFI) becomes insolvent. According to Xavier Freixas of Pompeu Fabra University and CEPR, banks should no longer be able to hold the government hostage. Visit VoxEU.org Papers and Slide Presentations Paper: "A Safer World Financial System: Improving the Resolution of Systemic Institutions" Presentation: Slides                   Stijn Claessens Paper: "Banking Resolution: Lessons from the Crisis" Presentation: Slides Xavier Freixas Paper: "Liquidity Regulation: The Choice Between Liquidity Risk Levies and Mandatory Liquidity Buffers"           Javier Suarez Paper: "Shadow Banking"  Presentation: Slides Tobias Adrian Paper: "Countercyclical Capital Buffers: A Critical Assessment of the Basel Proposal"  Presentation Slides Rafael Repullo Discussion: Presentation Thomas Huertas (FSA) Presentation: "Fair Value Accounting and Procyclicality: Regulatory Challenges"  Presentation: Slides  Christian Laux Discussion: Presentation Patricia Jackson Programme Morning Session Chair: Richard Portes (CEPR and London Business School) Opening remarks Patricia Jackson (Ernst & Young and CEPR) Richard Portes (CEPR and London Business School) "A Safer World Financial System: Improving the Resolution of Systemic Institutions" *Stijn Claessens (IMF, University of Amsterdam and CEPR) Richard J. Herring (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania) Dirk Schoenmaker (Duisenberg School of Finance) Discussion Vicky Pryce (FTI Consulting and CEPR) "Banking Resolution: Lessons from the Crisis" Xavier Freixas (Universitat Pompeu Fabra and CEPR) Discussion Jochen Sanio (BaFin)   "Liquidity Regulation: The Choice Between Liquidity Risk Levies and Mandatory Liquidity Buffers" Javier Suarez (Centre for Monetary and Financial Studies, Madrid and CEPR) Discussion Oliver Burkart (Committee of European Securities Regulators) Keynote speech José María Roldán (Banco de España) Discussion Oliver Burkart (Committee of European Securities Regulators) Panel Discussion: "Lessons from the Crisis" Chair: Patricia Jackson (Ernst & Young and CEPR) Panellists: Peter Praet (National Bank of Belgium) José María Roldán (Banco de España) Jochen Sanio (BaFin) Carol Sergeant (Lloyds Banking Group) Afternoon Session Chair: Patricia Jackson (Ernst & Young and CEPR) "Shadow Banking" *Tobias Adrian (Federal Reserve Bank of New York) Adam Ashcraft (Federal Reserve Bank of New York) Hayley Boesky (Federal Reserve Bank of New York) Zoltan Pozsar (Federal Reserve Bank of New York) Discussion Peter Praet (Banque Nationale de Belgique) "Countercyclical Capital Buffers: A Critical Assessment of the Basel Proposal" *Rafael Repullo (Centre for Monetary and Financial Studies Madrid and CEPR) Jesús Saurina (Banco de España) Carlos Trucharte (Banco de España) Discussion Thomas Huertas (FSA) "Fair Value Accounting and Procyclicality: Regulatory Challenges" Christian Laux (Vienna University of Economics and Business) Discussion Patricia Jackson (Ernst & Young and CEPR) Panel discussion: "The implications of Dodd-Frank for European Financial Regulation" Chair: Richard Portes (CEPR and London Business School) Panellists: Mark Austen (Association for Financial Markets in Europe) Benoît Coeuré (Direction générale du Trésor) Andrew Cross (Credit Suisse) Thomas Huertas (FSA) Concluding remarks Patricia Jackson (Ernst & Young and CEPR) Richard Portes (CEPR and London Business School) This conference is partly financed by the PEGGED Collaborative Project. The PEGGED Collaborative Project is funded by the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme for Research. Grant Agreement no. 217559