The 2007-09 financial crisis “has brought back liquidity and lender of last resort activity in a very big way and it’s going to affect both the activities of central banks and a wide range of financial regulations,” Ben Bernanke said today, in a keynote address at the end of a day-long conference on liquidity and the role of the lender of last resort.
Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2014 and now a Brookings distinguished fellow in residence, said that the recent financial crisis “met essentially the five criteria, the five stages of classic financial panic,” which he described as: losses, runs, fire sales, contagion and finally the broad economic effects. Watch Bernanke discuss these elements in the clip below, and also address his own question: “if this is such as standard thing, why didn’t we recognize it sooner?”
The event was sponsored by the Initiative on Business and Public Policy at Brookings. It featured high-level experts from industry, academia and government who discussed key issues related to liquidity and the lender of last resort, including: the function and liquidity adequacy of banks; the liquidity coverage ratio, net stable funding ratio, and short-term wholesale funding market reform; liquidity needs in the post-crisis world; and liquidity provision for bank resolution.
Video clips and audio are available on the event’s web page, including the complete video of Bernanke’s address and the Q&A session that followed.
Commentary
VIDEO: Bernanke Keynote at Liquidity and Lender of Last Resort Conference
April 30, 2014