Symposium FINANCE - ETHICS - RESPONSIBILITY
March 16, 2000
Cracow, Poland
Organised by :
Cracow University of Economics & Observatoire de la Finance (Geneva,
Switzerland)
in co-operation with Tertio Millennio Institute (Cracow).
The symposium is part of a series of
events celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Cracow University of Economics.
The Issues
In modern economy, the financial sector is characterised by dynamic development,
complex relationships and sophisticated instruments. On the one hand, increasing
financial globalisation facilitates international capital flows, but on
the other it calls for new ways of regulating them. Financial activities
may appear to take place in isolation, but in the final analysis, financial
decisions have a strong bearing on the rest of the economy and on the whole
of society.
The increasing role of the financial sector in modern economy, together
with the potential or real benefits and dangers associated with it, are
more and more clearly perceived not only by public regulatory bodies, but
also by private institutions operating in this sector. In mature market
economies, where the development of money and finance started decades ago,
the specific mission and the responsibilities of the various financial players
for the overall state of the financial sector are more and more explicitly
acknowledged by all those involved. This perception is further enhanced
by recent developments in the financial sector and in financial activities.
Today the same perception is spreading to the countries which are transforming
their economies. In these countries the financial sector is catching up
- developing at a breathtaking pace in order to make up for fifty years
of backwardness. In the West the same processes took decades to complete.
For this reason, paradoxically enough, in the countries in transition the
financial sector is especially fragile, in every sense of the word . Given
the general fragility of institutions, rules, processes and behaviours,
all the players – both public and private - operating in the financial
sector bear a specific responsibility which in some cases extends beyond
the actual financial sector.
Can and should the issue of responsibility of financial players be reduced
and limited solely to its formal or legal dimension? This question was the
starting point for the work of a group of financial professionals who have
come together to identify the specific ethical issues and challenges which
financial activities must address in the context of new trends and developments
in the sector. This group has been working in Geneva, under the auspices
of the Observatoire de la Finance.
The ethical agenda which underpins the question of responsibility, and which
the financial sector has to address, is essentially the same in mature market
economies and in economies in transition.
The Goals
The symposium has two major goals:
- initiating an exchange of views between the Polish and Western financial
professionals on the content and scope of the ethical norms which the recent
development of financial activities may call for.
- helping clarify the notion of responsibility and ethics of financial players,
by drawing on the experience of the countries which have been transforming
their economies over the last ten years.
The Programme
10 :00 am - 10 :15 am : Opening of the Conference
· Tadeusz Garbinski - rector of the Cracow University of Economics
· Paul H. Dembinski - Observatoire de la Finance - Geneva
· Stanislaw Owsiak - vice-rector of the Cracow University of Economics
10.15 am - 1.00 pm : Session I :
« How Responsibility is to be Understood in the Financial Sector ?
»
· H. Gronkiewicz-Walz - President of the National Bank of Poland
· K. Petraszkiewicz - Director of Polish Bankers Association
· A. Madej President of Penetrator, brokerage firm
· A. Hilton - Director, Centre for Study of Financial Innovation,
London
Coffee Break
Round Table Discussion
Lunch
2 :15 pm - 17 : 00 : Session II :
« Responsibility in Finance: are legal rules enough or are ethical
norms also needed?»
· JK Bielecki - director, EBRD, former Prime Minister, London
· A. Topinski - curator of PKO BP, Wasaw
· E. Rossi di Montelera - Vice-president, Observatoire de la Finance,
Geneva
· A. Szumanski - Faculty of Law, Jagellon University, Cracow
· K. Sosenko - Faculty of Philosophy, Cracow University of Econmics
Coffee Break
Round Table discussion
5 :15pm - 6 :00 pm : Session III :
«What Are the Perspectives ?»
· M. Zieba o.p. - Director, Tertio Millenio Institute, Cracow
· J. Mikulkowski-Pomoski - European Studies, Cracow University of
Economics
· J. Welby - former financial executive, Minister Church of England
· P. Dembinski - Observatoire de la Finance, Geneva
· St. Owsiak - Cracow University of Economics
End 6 p.m.
Registration:
to register send a fax to Prof. St. Owsiak at 0048 12 412 05 99 or an e-mail
to Komendai@ae.krakow.pl
Registration fee for institutions is 500 PLN
