WIFPR hosts major conferences, roundtables, and speaker events throughout the year, including the annual Wharton Liquidity Conference and the Wharton Conference on Financial Regulation.
Wharton-Harvard Insolvency and Restructuring Conference
Wharton Conference on Liquidity and Financial Fragility
Past Events
IMF-WIFPR Conference on Non-bank Financial Intermediation, Financial Stability, and Policy Responses (May 9, 2023)
In this event, WIFPR co-hosted a conference with the IMF on non-bank financial intermediation, financial stability, and policy responses at the IMF’s headquarters in Washington, DC. The conference featured academic presentations and panels with leading academic, industry, and policy experts on potential financial stability risks arising from various types of non-bank financial institutions. Click here to view the conference’s agenda.
A Conversation with Patrick T. Harker (April 11, 2023)
In this event, WIFPR hosted Patrick T. Harker, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, for a conversation with Joao Gomes (Wharton). Click here to read Harker’s opening remarkers.
Should the ceiling on deposit insurance be lifted? A debate (April 5, 2023)
In this panel event co-hosted with the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at Brookings, WIFPR co-director Peter Conti-Brown, Prasad Krishnamurthy (Berkeley Law), Patricia McCoy (Boston College Law), and Thomas Philippon (New York University) debate whether and to what extent the cap on deposit insurance should be lifted. Click here to watch the video.
Understanding the Banking Crisis (March 30, 2023)
In this panel event, WIFPR co-directors Peter Conti-Brown and Itay Goldstein joined Joao Gomes (Wharton) and Susan Wachter (Wharton) to discuss the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse and where things stand. Click here to watch the video.
Limitless: The Federal Reserve Takes on a New Age of Crisis (March 28, 2023)
In this panel event, Jeanna Smialek (New York Times) discussed her new book Limitless: The Federal Reserve Takes on a New Age of Crisis with Sarah Binder (GWU) and Peter Conti-Brown (Wharton). Click here to watch the video.
Crypto in Crisis (January 25, 2023)
In this panel event, Christine A. Okike (Kirkland & Ellis) and Brian Tichenor (Moelis & Company) joined Peter Conti-Brown (Wharton) to discuss the crisis in cryptocurrencies, what happens when a cryptofirm is in distress, and what role policymakers can play. Click here to watch the video.
Market Power and Financial Risk in U.S. Payments Systems (October 28, 2022)
In this webinar event, Joshua C. Macey discusses his WIFPR white paper, “Market Power and Financial Risk in U.S. Payments Systems.” This white paper argues that there is an unavoidable trade-off between regulations that would reduce risk to the financial system and those that would reduce the market power of the firms that control the interbank payments infrastructure in the United States. Regulatory and economic features of payments systems mean that regulators can (1) entrench bank market power, (2) accept a new source of systemic risk, or (3) expand the financial safety net beyond the bank regulatory perimeter. Recognizing that a private payments system involves a policy trade-off between bank market power and the safety and soundness of the financial system provides support for considering public payments options like the Federal Reserve’s “FedNow” or a well-designed central bank digital currency. Click the links below to watch the video and read the paper.
SPACs as Investment Funds (July 28, 2022)
In this webinar event, Robert Jackson and John Morley discuss their WIFPR white paper, “SPACs as Investment Funds.” This white paper argues that SPACs bear a striking resemblance to investment funds. SPACs invest in the same assets as investment funds, putting all of their money into securities as they search for deals. And they adopt the same pattern of organization as investment funds, relying entirely on management by external sponsors and advisers, many of whom also manage investment funds. This resemblance creates in SPACs many of the same unique agency conflicts that the regulation of investment funds was designed to address. In fact, we argue that many SPACs have been violating the Investment Company Act of 1940, the main law that governs investment funds. We show that soon after we filed a series of lawsuits alleging that some SPACs were violating the ICA in August 2021, new SPACs significantly changed their practices in ways that reduced their risk under the statute. We offer some suggestions to improve the SEC’s recent proposal to address the status of SPACs under the ICA and show how the proposal can help to protect investors.
Confronting the Challenge of Cross-Border Payments: A US Strategy for Central Clearing KYC (July 6, 2022)
In this webinar event, Christina Skinner discusses her WIFPR white paper, “Confronting the Challenge of Cross-Border Payments: A US Strategy for Central Clearing KYC.” For the past two years, the international community of financial regulators has been intently focused on improving the efficiency of cross-border payments. To date, this work has taken a wide lens in scoping the problem. This white paper focuses on what the U.S. could contribute to the cross-border payments initiative. It argues that the bulk of inefficiency in the current legacy system—corresponding banking—derives from frictions associated with anti-money laundering law and regulation. To streamline the process of conducting customer due diligence, specifically, the paper proposes moving toward a system of centralized verification. In particular, the paper sketches an idea for a new kind of payments market infrastructure—a centralized verifying party—that would act as a trusted, third-party intermediary verifying transacting parties within correspondent networks.