This is the topic of our first session chaired by my esteemed colleague, Haruhiko Kuroda, Governor of the Bank of Japan. Second, central banks and financial regulators, which work closely together, have had to adapt to important changes in financial intermediation, especially in the aftermath of the financial crisis. My dear European neighbour, Jens Weidmann, President of the Deutsche Bundesbank, will chair the second session dedicated to this question. Third, globalization means that cross-border flows have to be taken into account and raises the question of the scope and limits of policy autonomy, not only in smaller open economies, but also in larger ones because of spillovers and the resulting feedback effects. This will be tackled in the third session chaired by my good friend, Jacob Frenkel, President of both JPM Chase International and the G30 Board of Trustees. Last, to wrap up all aspects, what better than a Panel on the future of the policy mix, including monetary, financial, macroprudential, fiscal and structural policies? The latter will comprise five prominent decision-makers, moderated – or, should I say, stimulated – by a “pillar” of our series of Symposiums: Martin Wolf, whom so many of us read regularly in the Financial Times. Having briefly outlined the programme and mentioned the names of the chairs of each session, I will not list all the eminent speakers, discussants and panellists whom I wish nevertheless to thank most warmly in advance for their contributions. Yet I would like to highlight their diversity in terms of background and experience.

Admittedly, our objective as regulators remains relatively simple: it should be primarily to ensure that financial institutions, infrastructures and markets properly do their job of smoothly and efficiently channelling savings into productive investments. Yet our task is difficult as finance constantly evolves as a result of technological advances or as an answer to regulatory changes. This should prompt us to be both resolute and cautious in dealing with many questions such as whether there is an optimal mix of bank and market financing. The financial crisis has indeed revealed at least three major failures of our financial systems, be they bank or market oriented: excess leverage, excess complexity and excess opacity. Corrective actions have been implemented in these three areas. First, over the past few years, Basel III and various national or regional initiatives have led to a sizeable recapitalization of the banking system and especially SIFIs [systemically important financial institutions]. In the euro area, the Comprehensive Assessment of the balance sheets of 130 major banks shows how much progress has been made. Second, major reforms have been undertaken in order to facilitate the orderly resolution of large and complex financial institutions, thus providing better incentives ex ante to these large financial conglomerates. Such progress can be seen both in Europe, where the Banking Union is a major step forward, as well as abroad. Last, the scope of regulation has been extended to products and markets that remained too opaque in spite of their systemic relevance, such as some major classes of OTC derivatives.