The Future for Financial Services

The most profound challenges issued to financial institutions represented at the Forum were not economic, regulatory or structural.  Instead they represent what many speakers referred to as ‘the moral dimension’. 

As well as rebuilding trust and a sense of value, speakers at the Forum stressed the need for the financial industry to go further and, in the words of FSA chairman Lord Turner, ensure they are ‘socially useful’.  Simon Schama recalled the importance of co-operation and social obligation to the financiers of seventeenth century Amsterdam, and Jan Peter Balkenende stressed that the industry needs to support the public if it wishes to receive their support in future. 

Questions from the audience:

• Are ethical and sustainable business thinking and capitalism conflicting or can they go hand in hand? Will there – in a fully free market – not always be people going after self interest and short term wins?
• Melanie [Howard] said that “The wiring of human species is not built for long term thinking”. If we can also assume that this changes with age, what does that mean for (world) leaders?
• Are we simply doomed to repeat a history that we ignore?
• What will the future bring for male-female dynamics?

Most talked about

change co-operation Control emerging markets Innovation Karaoke Capitalism Leadership New Economy New Morality Open marketplace Politics post-crisis world Reform regulatory challenge Risk management social obligation stability Transparancy Trust volatility

Speakers