Philipp Hildebrand, SNB, now vice-chairman of the FSB in Basel
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Philipp Hildebrand, chairman of the board of governors of the Swiss National Bank, joins Canadian Mark Carney on the Financial Stability Board (FSB). Carney, governor of the Bank of Canada, was named the new chairman and Hildebrand the vice-chairman Friday 4 Novmber at the close of the G20 meeting in Cannes, France.
The FSB is based in Basel, hosted by the Bank for International Settlements. Hildebrand has been a member of its steering committee.
The two have been appointed to three-year terms.
The FSB describes its role as coordinating “at the international level the work of national financial authorities and international standard setting bodies and to develop and promote the implementation of effective regulatory, supervisory and other financial sector policies in the
interest of financial stability. It brings together national authorities responsible for financial stability in 24 countries and jurisdictions, international financial institutions, sector-specific international groupings of regulators and supervisors, and committees of central bank
experts.”
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Some of Switzerland’s banks and insurance companies, all multinationals, could well be among those identified by the Basel-based Financial Stability Board as companies that need more regulation because of inherent risks. But the FSB denies Tuesday 1 December, that a Monday report in the Financial Times which lists companies is wrong and that it does not have such a list because such risks are situation-specific and change over time.
Natural catastrophe losses like to be down sharply in 2009
The good news for insurers is that catastrophes are likely to cost them far less in 2009, down by 59 percent compared to 2008.
Philipp Hildebrand, SNB
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The incoming head of the Swiss National Bank, Philipp Hildebrand, says Switzerland needs tighter banking regulations than most countries, due to its size relative to the country’s economy. Total banking assets exceed seven times Switzerland’s GDP, he notes, and they are very concentrated, with the two big banks, Credit Suisse and UBS, having two-thirds of the total.
Recovery may be underway but the costs to the global economy, longer term, loom large. “The potential costs of the support measures taken – capital injection, asset purchases, and guarantees of bank debt – in the G7 countries together with Australia, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland amount to about 20 percent of GDP in these economies,” he says, although actual outlays have been about 8 percent.
Hildebrand, who takes over as SNB chairman in January 2010 when Jean-Pierre Roth retires, made his remarks in a speech Wednesday evening 18 November at the University of Geneva.
The SNB is focusing on two areas of bank regulation changes, in line with recommendations drawn up by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) The FSB was created in April 2009 and is housed at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Federal Council, concerned about changes to the G20 group of the world’s largest economies and calls for changes to other international financial bodies, has told the country’s finance ministry to take steps to strengthen Switzerland’s role in the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank. Developing countries and emerging markets have been calling for reform of these two bodies, the two Bretton Woods international financial institutions, in recent months, suggesting that voting weights need to be reconsidered. Switzerland is keen to ensure that its seats on the Executive Councils of each group become permanent.
The cabinet (Federal Council) has also instructed the finance ministry to work closely with the Swiss National Bank and the Swiss financial market supervisory authority Finma to strengthen its role in the Financial Stability Board (FSB).
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland has been given two seats on the Financial Stability Board (FSB), based in Basel: one for the Swiss National Bank and the other for a representative of the Swiss Federal Department of Finance. The FSB is a regulatory body created 3 April from the advisory group known as the Financial Stability Forum that was set up at the end of the 1990s, and where Switzerland has had only one seat. The new FSB was mandated by the G20 when the group met in London in early April.
Related: Guardian, UK on how the new board will work
