On the 18th November 2019, the Award Ceremony of the 7th edition of the Global Prize “Ethics & Trust in Finance” took place, at the OECD headquarters in Paris.
Opening speech
Mr. Paul H. Dembinski, co-President of the Jury of the Prize, opened the Ceremony welcoming the laureates, the members of the Jury and the keynote speakers.
The opening speech was followed by a round table, moderated by Ms. Josina Kamerling, Head of Regulatory Outreach at CFA Institute and Co-President of the Jury of the Prize, to discuss the theme “Ethics & Trust in finance: opportunities and challenges for 2020”. The participants to the round table included:
Mathilde Mesnard, Deputy Director, Financial and Enterprise Affairs, OECD
Adam McLean, Legal and Financial Compliance, Euroclear
Pascal Cescon, Chief Ethics Officer, Banque de France
The 7th edition 2018-2019 attracted more than 500 expressions of interest. In the final phase of its work, the Jury composed of 25 world class personalities, worked on a short list of 11 papers, and allocated the 20 000 USD to authors of the following four essays.
Keynote speech, by Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD
The Award ceremony concluded with the keynote speech of Angel Gurria, Secretary-General of the OECD, who congratulated the laureates and stressed the topicality and urgency of their work.
The Strategic Partners of the Ethics & Trust in Finance Prize
La Libra sonne-t-elle le glas des banques centrales ?
Colloque
3 octobre 2019, 14h-16h
Université de Fribourg (Suisse)
Introduction
Le lancement de la monnaie de Facebook (Libra) annonce une mutation inédite de l’écosystème monétaire induite par un géant des réseaux sociaux. Aussi, il relance le débat sur les avantages et risques des monnaies digitales privées. Cette annonce a suscité des réactions contrastées, l’enthousiasme initial de certains adeptes des « crypto-monnaies » cédant la place à la méfiance des régulateurs.
L’objectif de ce colloque est double : d’une part, il vise à identifier les lignes de rupture et de continuité qu’introduit la Libra dans débat sur la digitalisation de la monnaie et notamment par rapport aux monnaies digitales privées existantes (par ex. bitcoin, ether) ; d’autre part, il incite à s’interroger sur la façon dont cette nouvelle monnaie digitale interpelle les banques centrales et pourrait notamment les pousser à créer leur propre monnaie digitale. Ce double questionnement a un écho particulier en Suisse qui se positionne comme hub de l’innovation avec la « cryptovallée zougoise » et maintenant la Libra à Genève et qui s’interroge, à l’initiative de certains de ses politiciens, sur la faisabilité d’un « crypto-franc » (une monnaie digitale de banque centrale).
La Libra est-elle une monnaie digitale comme les autres ?
L’éclatement de la monnaie
Prof. Paul Dembinski (Université de Fribourg, Observatoire de la finance)
Libra: nature, risques et perspectives
Prof. Sergio Rossi (Université de Fribourg)
Les défis macroéconomique amenés par la Libra
Prof. Cédric Tille (Institut des hautes études internationales et du développement)
Quelles alternatives à la Libra ? La monnaie digitale de banque centrale
Le cash à l’ére digitale
Dr. Virgile Perret (Observatoire de la finance)
Les enjeux juridiques et politiques en Suisse
Prof. Hon. Pierre-Louis Manfrini (Université de Lausanne, IDHEAP)
Discussion – table ronde
Modération par M. Paul Coudret, journaliste, économiste et consultant
Following the financial crisis of 2008, the nature of money and monetary creation have become topics of debate in several countries. In Switzerland, the debate over the creation of an “electronic franc” (ie. a central bank digital currency) will surely gain momentum in the coming years. The proposal gained the support of some elected officials and senior executives in the financial sector who saw in it a credible alternative to the “Full Money” initiative, allowing central banks to retain a sure footing in payments in the face of the rise of private cryptocurrencies, while leaving untouched the freedom of commercial banks to develop credit activities and attract deposits.
On 14 March 2018, the Wermuth Postulate (N° 18.3159) was submitted, asking the Federal Council to elaborate a report on the feasibility and stakes of the creation of a cryptofranc (“Etablir un rapport sur la faisabilité et les enjeux de la création d’un cryptofranc”). Simultaneously, on 15 March 2018, Guillaume Barazzone submitted an Interpellation entitled “Un cryptofranc pour la Suisse?”. The Postulate, accepted by the Parliament, forces the Federal Council to study this topic and provide a report on it.
The question is all the more important since companies like Facebook are now proposing their own private payment system combining big data and cryptocurrencies. The risks, however, are significant with private payment systems combining speculation and use of personal data.
Given the importance of this issue for our payment system and in anticipation of the public debate that will develop, the Observatoire de la Finance has deepened the study of this issue in a report analyzing the opportunities, risks and impacts of central bank digital currencies.
The report, which can be downloaded below in several languages, exists in 2 versions:
An « international version » concerning potentially any state
The official launch of the 7th Edition of the Ethics & Trust in Finance Global Prize took place at the OECD Conference Center in Paris on the 18h of September. Full program
The launch was an opportunity to remind people about the purpose of the Prize which since 2006, on a biennial basis, invites young authors – under 35 – to think and submit essay entries about the role ethics and trust play or should be playing in the finance broadly understood. The targeted audience come from very different horizons, professional backgrounds, cultures, geographic locations, with the one common denominator that they all belong to the world in finance. The essay competition provides an opportunity for expression of these different expertise, sensibilities and experiences.
Beyond the Financial Crisis, Towards a Christian Perspective for Action, Paul Dembinski and Simona Beretta, The Caritas in Veritate Foundation Working Papers, June 2014.
The financial crisis and its many developments have brought to the forefront a sea change most people were unaware of in 2008. The financial economy had from the mid-1980s overtaken the real economy and expanded so much to become pervasive. All kinds of goods and commodities are transformed into financial assets or securities and sold on global exchanges. Especially debts—consumer credit, mortgages, credit cards, etc.—were appealing. Thus, over the last three decades financial assets became increasingly and silently part of our everyday life. So much so, that a total collapse of financial markets would actually be akin to a reboot of our way of life and of most of our institutions.
This working paper addresses this change and gives a well-developed and informed understanding of how we came to this. But most of it is dedicated to another point: which path is open today out of the crisis? What lies beyond the crisis? The return to ‘business as usual’? Have we learned nothing?
Financial markets are not evil per se. They do have a social function, but must work for the Common Good if they want to earn to it. What does this concretely mean? Drawing upon Catholic Social Teaching, Paul Dembinski and Simona Beretta reassert forgotten truth and explore new and challenging perspectives.
