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The 2021 Salzburg Global Finance Forum painted a cautiously optimistic picture for global banking sector post-pandemic

Policy, data, sustainable futures, and risks – financial and otherwise – formed the basis of discussions as the annual Salzburg Global Finance Forum concluded its annual series with a two-day virtual program on June 21-22, 2021. Following on three shorter online programs held between April and June which considered various themes linked to Post-Pandemic Leadership for Financial Services, the online event centered on the topic Financial Services in the Post-Pandemic Era: An Opportunity for a Green and Digitally Enabled Recovery. 

“In this final program, we’ll examine the post-COVID world of finance, and we’re hoping to illuminate new risks and vulnerabilities that we face as we begin to come back from this horrible global plague,” said President and CEO of Salzburg Global Seminar, Stephen L. Salyer, in his welcome address. “We hope also to hear from all of you how industry leaders and policymakers can steer a course toward a more equitable, sustainable, digital future.”

Hosted by Salzburg Global in partnership with BBVA, Google Cloud, and JPMorgan Chase & Co., and sponsored by the European Banking Federation, Dynex Capital Inc. and Sherman & Sterling, the program saw several stakeholders from across the industries come together. Alongside co-chairs Shriti Vadera, chair of Prudential plc, and Tim Adams, the president and CEO of the Institute of International Finance, panelists and participants included senior and rising leaders from financial services firms, supervisory and regulatory authorities, public policy leaders, and professional service providers.

With evolving social, economic and geopolitical conditions coming into play, the pandemic has shone a light on the potential which overarching issues of global concern, such as climate change, have to fundamentally alter systems if they are not factored into current developments. These realities outlined the four panel discussions held over the two days. Discussants examined how policymakers and industry leaders are stepping up to new challenges, how climate action increasingly remains a question of geopolitical competition, and how financial services will be called upon to assume a leading role in providing the financial means for meeting sustainability goals.

In the first panel – “Financial Services Post-COVID: Addressing Emerging Risks” – discussants included governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey; assistant managing director of capital markets at the Monetary Authority of Singapore Lim Tuang Lee; European Central Bank Supervisory Board member, Elizabeth McCaul; acting secretary general of International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), Tajinder Singh; and chairman of the board of directors at UBS, Axel Weber. The panel looked at the growing set of emerging risks in the financial sector, including climate-related risks, issues regarding non-bank financial intermediation, the effects of low interest rates, asset bubbles, and other repercussions of current massive government interventions

A second panel – “Towards a Sustainable Future in Finance: Global Landscape and the Roles of Private and Public Sectors” – intended to analyze the complexity of the global landscape behind the sustainable finance transition and elicit an open discussion on the scope of action for both the public and private sector towards a more sustainable future. Speakers were chair of the Impact Investing Institute, Elizabeth Corley, director-general for financial stability, financial services and capital markets union at the European Commission, John Berrigan; vice-chairman of BlackRock Asset Management, Philipp Hildebrand; chairman of BBVA Carlos Torres Vila; and former deputy governor of the South African Reserve Bank, Daniel Mminele.

Featuring Benoît Cœuré, keynote speaker and head of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub; Chris Brummer, professor of law and faculty director at Georgetown’s Institute of International Economic Law; Stefan Hoops, head of the Corporate Bank at Deutsche Bank; and Wendy Redshaw, chief digital information officer of retail banking digitech at NatWest Group, the third panel –  “Emerging Policy Challenges in the New Digital Economy” – focused on the main policy challenges that are emerging with the rapid digital transformation of the economy.

The fourth and final panel – “Financial Supervisory and Regulatory Policy Coordination: New Issues and Challenges” – looked at new challenges for regulators and supervisors in the context of new geopolitical issues confronting the financial services industry and featured Denis Beau, first deputy governor at the Banque de France; Jose Manuel Campa, chair of the European Banking Authority; Randy Quarles, vice chair for supervision on the board of governors at the Federal Reserve System and chair of the Financial Stability Board; and Carolyn Rogers, secretary general at the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision.

“We set out, despite the restrictions, to create a truly world-class program, focusing, as we always do, on the big questions facing the future of financial markets,” Salzburg Global Seminar Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Ben Glahn said in closing. “What this emphasizes to me is that, despite the restrictions on mobility, the restrictions on convening and travel, this kind of high-level, open, off-the-record exchange that the Salzburg Global Finance Forum has become known for can be replicated online effectively.”

Following on from the June 2021 program, a series of “virtual coffee breaks”, diving deeper into the discussions that arose. Rewiring The Financial System: Stablecoins, CBDCs and the Road to DeFi will take place on October 21, followed by The Mid- and Long-Term Macro-Economic Risks Post-COVID-19 on November 12. Registration is open to all participants of the June program.