>SPECIAL REPORT (ECONOMIC RESEARCH)

Has finance already forgotten the crisis?

The consensus is that the crisis will have to cause a trend break in the practices adopted in finance: contraction in demand for complex assets, reduction in risk-taking, changes in trader compensation systems, etc.

But certain recent developments can raise doubts as to whether there is really a trend break:
− the banks’ accelerated repayments of the governments’ capital injections;
− the return of demand for financial assets that until now were supposed to be "toxic";
− renewed speculative bubbles due to the sharp fall in investor risk aversion and excess liquidity.

This latter point shows that central banks’ responsibility in the "financial sector excesses" is even greater than before the crisis.

To see full report: SPECIAL REPORT