ZEW Economic Forum 2013 – Can the Banks Still Be Saved? The Impact of Financial Market Regulation

The 2013 ZEW Economic Forum, titled "Can the Banks Still be Saved? The Impact of Financial Market Regulation", was devoted to the debate on a new regulatory framework for the financial markets. On June 13, 2013, renowned financial market experts and researchers addressed this topic at ZEW.

A panel discussion featuring Prof. Dr. Claudia Buch (member of the German Council of Economic Experts and president of Halle Institute for Economic Research), Dr. Michael Kemmer (Association of German Banks), Sabine Lautenschläger (Deutsche Bundesbank), and Dr. Uwe Schroeder-Wildberg (MLP AG) was dedicated to important aspects of financial market regulation, for example the planned separation of commercial and investment banks, current efforts to reorganise or wind up credit institutions, as well as an integrated, ECB-led European banking supervision.

The second part of the ZEW Economic Forum has traditionally been devoted to the "Science for Practice" session, presentations of on-going research at ZEW. This year’s presentations were concerned with the use of overdraft credit, with corporate criteria for selecting house banks, and with the question whether the separation of investment and commercial banks will increase financial market stability.

Lectures by Dr. Ulrich Schröder, chairman of the Management Board at KfW Bankengruppe (KfW Banking Group), and Martin Blessing, chairman of the Commerzbank Board of Managing Directors, concluded the event. In his lecture, Schröder focused on the problems of long-term financing in times of crisis. Blessing addressed new rules for an efficient financial system.