Events

The FinTech Revolution: How Crypto is Reshaping Finance (December 2, 2024)

In episode 4 of the “Future of Finance” series, WIFPR director Itay Goldstein discussed the FinTech revolution with Michelle Lai (Electric Coin Co) and Alesia Haas (Coinbase). The three talked about the current moment in Fintech history and future innovations on the horizon.

The Regulatory Challenges of AI in Finance (November 25, 2024)

In episode 3 of the “Future of Finance” series, WIFPR director Itay Goldstein discussed the regulatory challenges of artificial intelligence in finance with Tobias Adrian (International Monetary Fund). The two talked about potential benefits and concerns about AI in finance, including the risk of unintentional collusion.

New Phenomena in Behavioral and Social Investing (November 18, 2024)

In episode 2 of the “Future of Finance” series, WIFPR director Itay Goldstein discussed behavioral finance with Matt Levine (Bloomberg). The two talked about meme stocks, cryptocurrencies, and social trends in finance.

The Future of Banking (November 11, 2024)

In episode 1 of the “Future of Finance” series, WIFPR director Itay Goldstein discussed the future of banking with Hyun Song Shin (BIS) and Loretta Mester (Wharton). The three talked about the 2023 banking crisis, what catalyzed it, why regulators did not prevent it, and steps to make the system safer.

Election 2024: Financial Policy in the Next Administration (October 23, 2024)

On October 23, 2024, WIFPR hosted an event on financial policy in the next administration. Moderated by Co-director Christina Skinner, the event featured a panel with Michael Faulkender (University of Maryland), Aaron Klein (Brookings), Andrew Olmem (Mayer & Brown), and Graham Steele (Stanford Law). Topics discussed included climate financial regulation, regulatory independence, and consumer financial protection.

Fireside Chat with Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, ​​​​Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs of India (October 22, 2024)

On October 22, 2024, WIFPR, along with the Wharton India Economic Forum, co-hosted a fireside chat with Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs of India.

Wharton Conference on Liquidity and Financial Fragility (October 18-19, 2024)

WIFPR hosted the Tenth Wharton Conference on Liquidity and Financial Fragility, which featured papers by leading scholars on broad topics in liquidity and financial fragility. Franklin Allen (Imperial College) delivered the keynote address. Click here to see the program.

IMF Global Financial Stability Report Launch (October 15, 2024)

WIFPR director Itay Goldstein participated in the launch of the IMF’s Global Financial Stability Report analytical chapter on artificial intelligence, “Advances in Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Capital Markets Activities.” The event, hosted at the Institute of International Finance, featured a presentation by Charles Cohen (IMF) and a panel discussion with Tobias Adrian (IMF), Mike Demissie (BNY), and Itay Goldstein (Wharton), moderated by Jessica Renier (IIF). Watch the video below.

Roundtable: Innovative Finance to Ensure Stability in the Face of Adverse Climate Change Impacts (September 30, 2024)

WIFPR, along with Perry World House, hosted a roundtable on climate finance to discuss Michael Franczak and Koko Warner’s white paper, “Innovate Finance to Ensure Stability in the Face of Adverse Climate Change Impacts.” Read the white paper here.

Women in Law and Finance Conference (September 26, 2024)

WIFPR co-sponsored the 3rd Annual Women in Law and Finance Conference, which featured presentations from academics on regulation, corporate governance, and other topics.

Webinar: Good-Faith Filing in Chapter 11 (September 24, 2024)

In this webinar event, Anthony Casey (University of Chicago) discusses his new WIFPR white paper, “Good-Faith Filing in Chapter 11.” The question of when a corporate debtor can initiate chapter 11 proceedings has taken on renewed importance in the wake of high-profile judicial rulings and a congressional proposal. This paper addresses that question, proposing a rule that dismissal for improper filing requires a showing that the proceedings are objectively futile. This proposal is supported by both policy and statute. Ideally, the bankruptcy and appellate courts (and ultimately the Supreme Court of the United States) would announce the rule. It could alternatively be implemented by statutory amendment to the United States Bankruptcy Code. At the very least, Congress should not enact any legislation that moves the law in the opposite direction.

Wharton-IMF Transatlantic Dialogue (September 12-13, 2024)

On September 12-13, 2024, WIFPR and the IMF held the Wharton-IMF Transatlantic Dialogue. The theme of this year’s dialogue was “Back-to-Basics in Challenging Times: Independence and Accountability in Promoting Financial Stability.” The conference brought together experts from both sides of the Atlantic to discuss governance of central banks, independence and accountability of agencies, climate and environmental risks, and financial innovation. Click here to view the program.

Webinar: The Evolution of Decentralized Exchange: Risks, Benefits, and Oversight (September 9, 2024)

In this webinar event, Cam Harvey (Duke), Joel Hasbrouck (NYU), and Fahad Saleh (University of Florida) discuss their WIFPR white paper, “The Evolution of Decentralized Exchange: Risks, Benefits, and Oversight.” A decentralized exchange or DEX is an application deployed on a blockchain that allows investors to exchange digital assets at pricing terms determined by a preset exchange rate formula. This technology has several unique features, including accessibility to all investors, transparency of pricing, and simultaneity of execution and settlement. Notably, trading via a DEX is feasible for any asset tokenized on a blockchain. In turn, given that assets such as stocks and bonds could be tokenized easily, it is particularly important to understand the risks posed by DEXs. This paper examines both the benefits and risks to investors from DEXs, explores the role of private and public liquidity pools and analyzes possible regulatory approaches.

IMF-WIFPR Conference on Financial and Real Implications of Technologies, AI, and Cyber Risks (June 18, 2024)

On June 18, 2024, WIFPR and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) held the IMF-WIFPR Conference on Financial and Real Implications of Technologies, AI, and Cyber Risks at the IMF’s headquarters in Washington, DC. This was the second annual IMF-WIFPR conference, following up on last year’s Conference on Non-bank Financial Intermediation, Financial Stability, and Policy Responses. These conferences tackle critical topics at the forefront of financial stability, macroeconomic effects, and policy strategies. You can read more about the conference here.

Roundtable: The Evolution of Decentralized Exchange: Risks, Benefits, and Oversight (April 30, 2024)

On April 30, 2024, WIFPR held a roundtable on decentralized exchanges. The roundtable focused on a white paper from Cam Harvey (Duke), Joel Hasbrouck (NYU Stern) and Fahad Saleh (Wake Forest) that explores how decentralized exchanges work, their benefits and risks, and potential regulatory responses. You can find a list of participants here.

A Conversation with Bob Elliott, Co-Founder, CEO, and CIO of Unwind Finance (April 24, 2024)

On April 24, the Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation (WIFPR) and Central Banking @ Penn hosted a conversation on the state of the economy, portfolio construction, and the democratization of alternative investments with Bob Elliott, Co-Founder, CEO and CIO of Unlimited Funds and former Investment Committee member at Bridgewater. Watch the recording below.

Rethinking Optimal Deposit Insurance (April 19, 2024)

WIFPR co-hosted a conference with Yale’s Tobin Center for Economic Policy on “Rethinking Optimal Deposit Insurance” on April 19. The conference featured presentations by leading academics as well as a policy panel. You can find a summary of the panel here and the conference program here.

Roundtable: Revisiting the Initiation Problem in Bankruptcy (April 12, 2024)

On April 12, 2024, WIFPR held a roundtable on bankruptcy. The roundtable focused on a white paper from Anthony J. Casey (University of Chicago Law School) that revisits the initiation problem in corporate bankruptcy proceedings. You can find a list of participants here.

Wharton Fintech Conference (April 12, 2024)

WIFPR sponsored the Wharton Fintech Conference, a student-run conference featuring leading practitioners in the fintech world. Click here to see the agenda.

Webinar: Anti-Money Laundering: Opportunities for Improvement (April 8, 2024)

In this webinar event, Kathryn Judge (Columbia) and Anil Kashyap (Chicago) discuss their WIFPR white paper, “Anti-Money Laundering: Opportunities for Improvement.” The current anti-money laundering regime is complicated, expensive and seems far from effective. This paper examines the path-dependent processes through which this regime evolved and expanded over time. It then uses multiple different approaches to assess just how well the system is performing, and at what cost. Although efficacy is hard to measure, the analysis suggests meaningful room for improvement. Against this backdrop, the paper proposes eight principles for enhancing the efficacy and efficiency of the current regime and enabling it to better respond to evolving policy priorities. An important theme is that there is a trilemma between effective AML, protecting civil liberties, and promoting financial inclusion, although there is significant room for improvement before reaching those fundamental tradeoffs. A good first step toward reform would be a blue-sky, holistic review of the current system.

Mastering Restructuring: Insights from Carvana and Intelsat (February 29, 2024)

In this panel event, Steve Serajeddini (Kirkland & Ellis), Barak Klein (Moelis & Company), and Paul Sheaffer (PJT Partners) joined Vince Buccola (Wharton) to discuss the recent Carvana and Intelsat restructurings, exploring out-of-court techniques, restructuring support agreements, negotiation dynamics, and the critical role of early preparation. Click here to watch the video.

Wharton Restructuring and Distressed Investing Conference (February 23, 2024)

WIFPR was a partner of the 20th annual Wharton Restructuring and Distressed Investing Conference, the largest school-run conference on distressed investing and restructuring in the United States. This year’s conference theme was “Rising Rates & Shifting Strategies: Impact of Inflation on the Distressed Space.” Click here to see the agenda.

Webinar: Structural Conflicts in Central Banking: Regulator or Operator of a Payment System? (October 10, 2023)

In this webinar event, Aaron Klein (Brookings) discusses his WIFPR white paper, “Structural Conflicts in Central Banking: Regulator or Operator of a Payment System?” Central banks can operate national payment systems, either as monopolies or in competition with private systems. Central banks can be the payment system regulator. This paper analyzes the multiple and sometimes conflicting roles facing central banks and payment systems. The paper explores different objectives central banks are tasked with (or task themselves with), looking at whether these objectives are in agreement or in conflict with each other and with other mandates the central bank faces. A primary focus of the paper is to examine the impact of different roles of the central bank in the payment system with corresponding innovation, or lack thereof, in that nation’s payment system. The paper examines why America’s payment system became a global laggard in adopting better payment technology. Structural conflicts between the Federal Reserve’s role as regulator of America’s payment systems and operator of its own system, regulator of bank’s safety and soundness, and prioritization of objectives played various roles in America’s failure to modernize its payment system.

Wharton Conference on Liquidity and Financial Fragility (October 6-7, 2023)

WIFPR hosted the Ninth Wharton Conference on Liquidity and Financial Fragility, which featured papers by leading scholars on broad topics in liquidity and financial fragility. Thomas Philippon (NYU Stern) delivered the keynote address. Click here to see the program.

Webinar: Payment for Order Flow and the Retail Trading Experience (October 3, 2023)

In this webinar event, Thomas Ernst (University of Maryland) and Chester Spatt (Carnegie Mellon) discuss their WIFPR white paper, “Payment for Order Flow and the Retail Trading Experience.” U.S. retail brokers have shifted to a business model with zero-commission trades, earning much of their revenue through payment for order flow (PFOF), under which wholesalers pay brokers to route the orders of their retail clients. The presence of PFOF has led to potential concerns about whether it leads to distortions in routing decisions by brokers, a reduction in market quality due to its effect in segmenting retail orders, or changes in the brokers’ incentives to encourage excess trading. While the recent SEC regulatory focus has been on equity markets, two-thirds of all PFOF comes from option markets. PFOF rates in option markets are much larger, creating a system where broker revenue is much higher when retail clients trade options compared to equities, leading to potential incentives to encourage option trading. We consider the current SEC proposal for order-by-order auctions in retail equity trading and its implications for retail investor welfare. We address three alternatives. First, we propose an expansion of equity Retail Liquidity Programs rather than mandated retail auctions. Second, we consider changes to option markets to reduce frictions, which could include fee caps, competitive designated-market-maker assignments, and a more competitive auction process. Finally, we suggest a PFOF-fee cap, which would preserve PFOF, while addressing the large cross-asset PFOF fee differences.

2nd Annual Women in Law and Finance Conference (September 29, 2023)

WIFPR co-sponsored the 2nd Annual Women in Law and Finance Conference, which featured presentations from academics on regulation, corporate governance, and other topics.

AALS Financial Regulation Midyear Conference (September 22, 2023)

WIFPR co-sponsored the Association of American Law Schools Financial Regulation Midyear Conference, which featured presentations from academics on a host of topics, including Silicon Valley Bank, crypto exchanges, and climate risk.

A Conversation with Neel Kashkari (September 25, 2023)

In this event, WIFPR hosted Neel Kashkari, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, for a Q&A with students, moderated by Wharton student Liam La Barge. Click here to watch the event.

Event Coverage:

• Federal Reserve bank president Kashkari expecting another rate hike
  The Hill | September 26, 2023
• Fed’s Kashkari Says He Expects One More Rate Hike This Year
  Bloomberg | September 25, 2023
• Fed’s Kashkari sees another rate hike, then a hold
  Reuters | September 25, 2023

Wharton-Harvard Insolvency and Restructuring Conference (September 8-9, 2023)

The Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation co-hosted the inaugural Wharton-Harvard Insolvency and Restructuring Conference on Friday, September 8, and Saturday, September 9, at the Wharton School.

The conference included presentations by academics across a range of disciplines on issues of leveraged finance, distress, and restructuring. The conference also included two practitioner panels: “Investing in and around Distress: The Changing Landscape” and “The Future of Chapter 11.”

The agenda is available here.

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 remarks.

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.

Webinar: 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.

Webinar: 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.

Webinar: 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.