Vasisht Discussed New Risks 10 Years after Financial Crisis

Gaurav Vasisht, Senior Vice President and Director, Financial Regulation at the Volcker Alliance, participated in a panel discussion held on September 28, 2018 at the Georgetown University Law Center’s daylong conference exploring new risks, titled, "Ten Years After the Financial Crisis: Closing Loopholes, Avoiding Blindspots and Finding Economic Justice." Leading financial experts from government, academia and journalism discussed lessons learned from the crisis, emerging risks and potential solutions to promote financial stability. Former FDIC Chair and Volcker Alliance Board Member Sheila Bair delivered the keynote address on “Forgotten Lessons of the Financial Crisis.”

The panel discussion that featured Mr. Vasisht covered the current state of financial stability regulation in the United States. Mr. Vasisht provided an overview of the deregulatory policies being pursued by regulators, explained why these proposals were a net negative for financial stability and highlighted the weaknesses of the framework for regulating financial institutions in the United States. He also emphasized the need for more transparency on Volcker Rule data that regulatory agencies are collecting from banks, a topic he wrote about recently in the Wall Street Journal with Ms. Bair.

“The seeds of banking crises are sown when times are good. I think we’re seeing the same dynamic now where we’re in a good phase - people are making money - but there are certainly some storm clouds ahead. Some people are choosing to ignore those storm clouds, but now is the time to implement countercyclical policies as opposed to procyclical policies. We’ve done this over and over again - perhaps it’s human nature, perhaps it’s ignorance of the past. We succumb to the same temptation to reduce the requirements and then after the fact, we always tighten regulation as if ‘this time we’re going to get it right’. I think policymakers should be looking inward to see if we are at that moment again and if we are acting the way we should be,” said Mr. Vasisht.

Additional speakers throughout the day included:
· George Akerlof, Georgetown University
· Edward Baptist, Cornell University
· John C. Bogle, The Vanguard Group
· Anupam Chander, Georgetown Law
· Anthony Cook, Georgetown Law
· Jesse Eisinger, Pro Publica
· James Feinerman, Georgetown Law
· Professor Anne Fleming, Georgetown Law
· Anna Gelpern, Georgetown Law
· Gary Gensler, M.I.T. Sloan School of Management
· Erik Gerding, University of Colorado Law School
· Michael Greenberger, University of Maryland
· Rob Johnson, Institute for New Economic Thinking
· Ed Kane, Boston College
· Dennis Kelleher, Better Markets
· Adam Levitin, Georgetown Law
· Frank Pasquale, Black Box Society
· Peter Whoriskey, The Washington Post