40th Greifswald Speech of the Alfried Krupp Kolleg Greifswald Foundation by Professor Dr. Martin F. Hellwig (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn)

The lecture discusses the reforms of financial sector regulation after the 2008 crisis and explains why these are not sufficient to prevent a new crisis. It is still not possible for the authorities to restructure or wind up a large bank without causing major damage to the rest of the economy. Preventive rules on capital adequacy or liquidity protection are still too weak, as are the possibilities for the supervisory authorities to intervene preventively. The potential Unicredit/Commerzbank merger and the bank collapses of 2023 demonstrate the topicality of the problems.

Martin Hellwig is Director Emeritus at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods in Bonn. Previously, the economist (Diploma Heidelberg 1970, Doctorate Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1973) had worked at various universities, including Princeton, Bonn, Basel, Harvard and Mannheim. As early as the 1990s, he dealt with financial stability and financial regulation. From 2009, he advised the German government and the European Systemic Risk Board. His book The Bankers' New Clothes, co-authored with Anat Admati, Stanford, was an international bestseller.

Moderation: Professor Dr. Thomas Klinger