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Venue

11 March, 2015
Kassensaal, OeNB, Otto-Wagner-Platz 3, A-1090 Vienna

Format

Vienna

Date

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

In cooperation with

In reply to the financial crisis, “Great Recession” and sovereign debt crisis, many central banks have pursued ultra-easy and far reaching unconventional monetary policies for several years. Yields on various bond classes – including euro area sovereign bond yields since the sovereign debt crisis has subsided – have reached very low levels. Prices on stocks and real assets have soared. In several countries, markets have been expecting a reversal of the interest rate cycle for some time now. As a result the risk of – possibly substantial – price corrections in all these asset classes may be seen to have increased. This environment poses challenges for banks’ asset liability and risk management as well as earnings. Institutional investors facing yield pressure may resort to more risky strategies, established forms of investment strategies may no longer be viable. This conference brings together financial practitioners, academics, supervisors and policy makers to jointly discuss relevant challenges, scenarios, options and risks in this situation. Lessons from history are explored, a bird’s eye perspective from academia and international institutions as well as inside views from industry practitioners are provided. Possible consequences for financial stability, the macroeconomy at large as well as adequate policy responses are discussed.

Program

Time
Wednesday, 11 March 2015
09:00
Opening
Andreas Ittner, Vice Governor, Oesterreichische Nationalbank
Urs Birchler, SUERF President and Professor of Banking, University of Zürich
09:30
Overview and historical perspective
Chair: Doris Ritzberger-Grünwald, Director, Oesterreichische Nationalbank

Interest rate cycles and implications for the financial sector – a long term view

Richard S. Grossman, Professor of Economics at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT and a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University presentation
10:15
Coffee
10:45
Banking perspectives
Chair: Otto Lucius, Bankwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft (BWG) presentation

Banking - conceptual and related issues

Philip Molyneux, Professor of Banking and Finance Bangor University presentation

Effects of ultra-low interest rates and unconventional monetary policy on bank profitability, risk-taking and soundness

Frederic Lambert, IMF presentation

The perspective of a large global bank

Claude Moser, Head of Group Asset Liability Management, UBS presentation

The perspective of an Austrian internationally diversified universal bank

Paul Kocher, Chief Treasury Officer, Raiffeisenbank International presentation
12:30
Lunch
13:15
Institutional investors’ perspectives
Chair: Ernest Gnan, Secretary General, SUERF, and Head of Division, OeNB

Institutional investors’ perspectives overview

Helmut Gründl, Professor, Goethe University Frankfurt presentation

The fund manager perspective

Antti Ilmanen, AQR Capital Management presentation

The official institutional investors’ perspective

John Nugée, Laburnum Consulting Ltd. presentation

(Life) insurance perspective

Dario Focarelli, Direttore Generale Associazione Nazionale fra le Imprese Assicuratrici presentation
14:45
Coffee
15:15
Policy perspectives
Chair: Andreas Ittner, Vice-Governor, Oesterreichische Nationalbank

Bubbles and central banks - historical perspective

Isabel Schnabel, Chair of Financial Economics Gutenberg School of Management and Economics Universität Mainz; Sachverständigenrat presentation

Microprudential bank supervisor’s perspective

Korbinian Ibel, Director General, Micro-Prudential Supervision IV, SSM

Asset liability management at insurance companies: A supervisor’s perspective

Wolfgang Herold, Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) presentation

Ultra-easy monetary policies: Risks and benefits for the financial system

Olivier Garnier, Group Chief Economist of Société Générale presentation
17:00
End of Conference