More than 1,000 bankers, politicians, regulators and investors meet in Paris on Tuesday and Wednesday for a conference of the Institute of International Finance (IIF), which lobbies on behalf of banks over regulatory, financial and economic issues.
The meeting comes against a jittery backdrop after investors were rattled in the past week by concerns about how the global economy will cope with an end to massive central bank impetus measures and a slowdown in China’s growth. That has halted a strong run by bank shares, and reignited discussion about how to boost growth.
Douglas Flint, chairman of both HSBC (HSBA.L) – Europe’s biggest bank – and the IIF, said bankswanted to get clarity on « defining the end point » for regulatory change so they can adapt to that framework.
« Regulation is always going to be a continuum, but the scale of the change that’s taking place at the moment is unprecedented and it would be extremely helpful to everyone if there was settled framework, » he told Reuters on Monday in Paris.
Banks are on a firmer footing than two years ago after regulators forced them to increase their capital and liquidity strength, but there remains uncertainty about whether banks can be deemed too big, the details of a euro zone banking union and the structure to deal with banks that fail.
Euro zone ministers failed over the weekend to agree how to handle bank collapses or set a blueprint for how bondholders would share losses for bailing out banks, showing the reform program is still far from complete.
Flint said a lack of regulatory clarity for banks was holding back economic growth.
Reuter
