June 2018 - Learning about macroeconomic and financial stability

Conference of the Belgian Financial Forum (BFF)

Wednesday 5 June 2018

Auditorium of the National Bank of Belgium, Brussels

Aftermovie: Learning about macroeconomic and financial stability by Peter Praet

Speaker

Peter Praet joined the European Central Bank as Member of the Executive Board in 2011. He is responsible for the Directorate General Economics up to the end of his mandate on 31 May 2019. Before joining the ECB, Peter Praet was Executive Director of the National Bank of Belgium (2000-2011). Here he was responsible for International Cooperation, Financial Stability and Oversight of Financial Infrastructures and Payments Systems. Between 2002 and 2011, he was also a Member of the Management Committee of the Belgian Banking, Finance and Insurance Commission (CBFA), where he was responsible for Prudential Policy for banking and insurance. Peter Praet served as Chief of Cabinet for the Belgian Minister of Finance from 1999-2000, as Chief Economist of Générale de Banque and Fortis Bank from 1988-1999, as Professor of Economics at the Université Libre de Bruxelles from 1980-1987, and as Economist at the International Monetary Fund from 1978-1980. He earned a Ph.D. in Economics from the Université Libre de Bruxelles in 1980. Peter Praet served on several high-level international committees, including the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems, the Committee on the Global Financial System, and the European Banking Authority. He was First Alternate of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements from 2000-2011.

Theme

Most institutional changes in macroeconomic and financial policies, if not all, are attributable to lessons learned during crises. The paradigm of inflation targeting in central banking can be attributed to the periods of high inflation and unemployment that prevailed in some countries until the 1980s. The creation of the euro was a response to the currency crises that jeopardised the development of Europe’s single market. More recently, the Great Financial Crisis led to a worldwide regulatory overhaul to strengthen the resilience of the financial sector, and in Europe to the establishment of a banking union, including a single supervisory mechanism and a single resolution mechanism. Drawing on his experiences as a professor of economics, private banker and finally central banker, Peter Praet reviewed these developments and drew some tentative lessons for the future.