Leading economist to address financial stability issues at international conference

A leading financial economist from our School of Business is to give a keynote speech at a major international conference in Norway.

Professor Panicos Demetriades (pictured) will address the European Forum of Deposit Insurers (EFDI) on 13 September. His keynote speech is on The use of bail-in in Cyprus.

Professor Demetriades was, between 3 May 2012 - 10 April 2014, the Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus (Euro system) and member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank.  As Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus, he oversaw a major restructuring and recapitalization of the Cypriot banking system using modern bank recovery and resolution tools.  He also participated in the discussions that led to the establishment of the banking union in the euro area. 

His insights into the banking crisis in Cyprus are forthcoming in a book that will be published later this year by Palgrave Macmillan, entitled Diary of the Euro crisis in Cyprus: lessons for bank recovery and resolution.

Professor Demetriades said: “Cyprus was the first country in Europe to use modern bank resolution tools in 2013 to deal effectively with failing credit institutions without using public money.  Such tools have been designed at the EU-level to preserve financial stability and protect the public purse by obviating the need to bail out failing banks using taxpayers’ money.   My speech will analyse the lessons learnt from applying these tools in Cyprus, both positive and negative ones.  The book itself covers a much wider ground, including the near unravelling of the Euro in Cyprus in March 2013, the deeper causes of the crisis, the political and financial links between Russia and Cyprus and the longer-term implications for Europe.”    

Members of the European Commission and the European Parliament will be in attendance at the conference which takes place in Oslo.

EFDI’s main objective is to contribute to the stability of financial systems by enhancing the role of, and promoting European and International co-operation in deposit insurance and investor compensation, facilitating discussion and exchange of experiences and expertise among its members.