Fifty senior representatives of the Swiss and British financial services industries met in Zurich today for the fourth Financial Round Table hosted by Pierre Mirabaud, chairman of the Swiss Bankers Association. Senior representatives of the major banks of both countries as well as the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the new Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) attended the meeting which this year focused on the vision of banking for the future.
Keynote speakers at this year’s Round Table included His Excellency Mr. Alexis Lautenberg, Ambassador of Switzerland to the UK; Ms. Angela Knight, Chief Executive of the British Bankers’ Association; Dr Patrick Raabflaub, Director, Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority; and Dr Thomas Huertas, Director, Banking Sector, Financial Services Authority (FSA). Mr. Raymond Bär, Chairman, Julius Bär Holding, and Mr. Giles Keating, Head of Research for Private Banking and Asset Management, Credit Suisse, spoke on behalf of the banking sector. The discussion was chaired by Mr Daniel Zuberbuhler, Vice Chairman of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).
The discussions examined how banking may look post-crisis, including proposed regulatory initiatives aimed at strengthening prudential oversight of capital, liquidity and risk management; and what changes might be counter-productive.
Key points discussed at the meeting were:
- The definition of capital and how to ensure high and consistent standards of eligible capital for all international banks.
- The impact of Basel 2 on the cyclicality of capital requirements and possible measures to promote stronger cushions over the cycle.
- Principles for sound liquidity risk management and supervision and internationally-consistent liquidity approaches for cross-border banks.
- Supervisory colleges.
- Restoring confidence to the markets.
“The City of London and the Swiss financial centres are natural allies because far more issues unite us than divide us and we both have a tradition of being able to run sophisticated financial services industries in a reliable and efficient manner and with a similar philosophy towards financial market regulation and supervision. At today’s Round Table we looked forward and considered some of the characteristics of our industry in the future and how regulation could be shaped to facilitate future banking while as far as possible eliminating the causes that conditioned the crisis.”
Angela Knight, chief executive of the British Bankers’ Association said: “Both the Swiss and the British have big international financial services businesses. We both believe in open markets and high quality, sensible and appropriate regulation. We’re meeting here to demonstrate that we’re ready to play our part going into the future by leading from the front rather than from behind.”