theme

At the FSA conference 2010 the focus will be on the future of the financial system. The financial system has changed a lot since the beginning of the credit crunch. Governments are large stockholders of financial institutions and supervisors have to carry out their duties in another way. That’s why the theme of the FSA conference will be: ‘The Perfect System’. Does a perfect system exist? If so, what does it mean? What is to be expected from governments? What sort of changes shall banks have to deal with? Various speakers from the business world, the government, academics and supervisors will talk about their vision of a perfect system. They will also talk about the way to achieve their visions.

The role of the supervisor
Since the beginning of the credit crunch banks collapsed in national and international settings, and multiple financial enterprises sought government help. In the Netherlands there are various institutions, like the Dutch Central Bank and the NMa, which have to make sure that the financial sector is operating properly. Every interference from these institutions bring about a lot of negative publicity, which can in turn bring about even more damage to the financial institutions. With the fall of corporations in the financial sector the general opinion seems to be that there is a lack of supervisory. So, when do you interfere as a supervisor? Should supervisors have more possibilities to interfere? Would more supervisory prevent the collapse of financial institutions? Is supervisory effective at all?

Banks
Dutch  banks have expended their activities for years across the borders. Various banks have grown to be world-class banks. The financial sector in the Netherlands was settled amongst the big international names, and gave the Netherlands a place amongst the G20. This was about to change when the credit crunch made his entrance, and different large banks got into troubles and had to be split up. This gives the opportunity to foreign corporations to expend their activities in the Netherlands. Are the remaining Dutch banks reduced to be only good for acquisitions? Is this the end of the Dutch financial sector, or is there going to be progress after these reducing steps?

Government
Various banks got into big troubles during the credit crunch, which got even worse because of the decreasing amount of trust from consumers in banks and because the trust amongst banks was decreasing as well. The government had no other option, they had to interfere. This way they could stimulate cash flows and gain more stability. But, a downside of nationalizing banks is that it can decrease competition between banks, which can lead to decreased efficiency in the long run. With preceding financial crisis banks returned to their equilibrium again in the end. How are banks going to find their equilibrium now? Are banks to be returned to their original state, or should all banks be nationalized? What are the consequences for the Dutch banks? And who pays for all the acquisitions in the end, the stockholders or the regular tax payer?

Head sponsors 2010: