john c williams : banking culture - the path ahead remarks by mr john c williams, president and chief executive officer of the federal reserve bank of new york, at the conference " building cultural capital in the financial services industry : emerging practices, risks and opportunities ", federal reserve bank of new york, new york city, 4 june 2019. * * * as prepared for delivery good morning, everyone. i ’ d like to begin by welcoming you to the federal reserve bank of new york and to the fifth conference on culture in financial services that we ’ ve hosted. before i launch into my remarks, it ’ s time i remind everyone that the views i express today are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the federal open market committee or others in the federal reserve system. when i took on the role as president of the new york fed last year it so happened that my first day coincided with this conference. in my remarks that day, i emphasized that culture is a longterm project, a constantly evolving one, which is never done. the trouble with long - term projects with no distinct finish line is that they can lack a sense of urgency. the pressure to make real progress is often missing, especially when there are so many other priorities competing for our time. headlines in the financial news illustrate the lack of progress. in the year since our last conference, stories of money laundering and fraud have been an all - too - frequent feature. culture is at the heart of many of these issues, and addressing the root causes of misconduct must remain a high priority for the industry and regulators. the supervisory approach given this imperative for change, the question is, what can we do to improve culture in financial services? culture is like many of the risk management issues challenging businesses. cyber threats, digital transformation, and climate change are all facts of life that companies face today, and will be facing 10 years from now. but i don ’ t hear any ceos saying that securing their servers is a project that can wait until 2029. nor does anyone think that there are “ once and done ” fixes for these problems. indeed, one important lesson from cybersecurity is that this is not purely a technology problem, but one that requires a fundamental shift in mindset and culture over the long term. so the first thing is the industry, the regulatory agencies, and the banks need to take culture seriously, now. a major and essential part of this is that there must be meaningful consequences for firms

the first step of understanding the nature of organizational culture. these three concepts — “ connect, ” “ convene, ” and “ catalyze ” — will continue to be our guiding principles on the issue of culture as we build on our current work and explore new initiatives. like addressing cyber risks and climate change, the journey toward reforming culture in the banking and financial services industry is a long one. and there ’ s no single action that a regulator or a bank can take to make it happen. getting it right is going to require the will and expertise of regulators, financial services firms, academics, and practitioners. and while changing organizational culture is a long - term, complex, and challenging task, i ’ m optimistic that we can and we will make progress. and the federal reserve bank of new york is committed to being a partner on that journey. thank you. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches