The 250 participants experienced an insightful and stimulating conference that offered ample opportunities for knowledge exchange in addition to the presentations themselves. The conference started with a presentation on “Money and Payments in the Digital Age” by Prof. Hyun Song Shin, Economic Adviser and Head of Research at the Bank for International Settlements. In his speech, he addressed technological as well as psychological aspects of digital token payments. Ultimately, the question of trust between individual players remains one of great importance, especially in a highly technological environment. Against this background, Prof. Shin highlighted the importance of central banks, whose behavior substantially contributes to trust among market participants. He also pointed out that technological advances in the financial industry are undisputed but that the associated advantages over existing payment systems are yet to be demonstrated.

Prof. Jean-Charles Rochet, Professor of Finance at Swiss Finance Institute and the University of Geneva, then talked about what academic research carried out in the aftermath of the financial crisis can teach us, using—by way of illustration—four examples of research conducted by SFI professors. For example, two SFI professors studied the behavior of hedge and mutual funds during the global financial crisis; another researcher examined and questioned the design of stress tests and developed a new method called the “V-Lab” stress test. Further research areas that Prof. Rochet presented included the analysis of credit booms and busts cycles as well as bankers’ compensation.

In his presentation “Financial Stability: Old and New Challenges”, Dr. Fritz Zurbrügg from the Swiss National Bank explained that a solid financial system is a key prerequisite for the functioning of an economy and the implementation of monetary policy. At the same time, he pointed out that financial stability depends primarily on banking sector resilience and that disruptions on real estate and mortgage markets pose large risks to the banking sector.

The conference concluded with a speech by Mr. Tidjane Thiam from Credit Suisse Group AG, who provided a variety of personal anecdotes and also self-critically addressed the loss of trust with which the financial industry still has to cope. In the subsequent question round, moderated by finews.ch founder Mr. Claude Baumann, Mr. Thiam answered numerous questions from the audience.

In his closing remarks, our Foundation Board Chairman Dr. Romeo Cerutti from Credit Suisse Group AG emphasized the important role of SFI as a connector between academia and practice and reaffirmed the added value that results from the close integration between practice and academia.