A London conference hosted by FS-KTN will review the correlation between risk and behavior in the financial services sector.
The phrase ‘are bankers psychopaths?’ caught my eye when scanning the programe for Financial Services Knowledge Transfer Network’s (FS-KTN) debut conference on Risk and Behavior this October. An image of G20 protests came to mind as I expected this question to be emblazoned on one of the many signs dotted along the crowd. instead, the question of banker’s mental likeness is the topic to be discussed during the FS-KTN’s upcoming Risk and Behavior conference.
Risk is very much the topic of the moment and of many industry events but the FS-KTN event will draw upon its academic background to offer attendees insight into various types of risks – liquidity, counterparty risk and systemic risk. Instead of offering the common run-of-the mill discussion of risk, FS-KTN will draw upon its network of academics (and yes, sociologists and behaviorial scientists) to shed light on how behavorial studies can be sued to help professionals in decision making and risk management practices. For instance, one session will review gender biases in risk taking practices.
Additionally, the sessions, which are divided into three different market sector specific streams for the buy side, sell side and insurance companies, will identify and attack some of the key syndicated (and therefore often marginalized) issues facing the financial services sector. The aim is to bring such issues to light, offer alternative perspectives and ideally involve academia in finding the solutions.
Some of the sessions will cover the following:
"The Unintended Consequences of the Plans for Central Clearing
"What is the Future Role of the IFA post RDR"
"Are Private Equity (alt. Hedge) Funds the Root of All Evil?"
The financial sector was often ridiculed for being in its own bubble in recent times and despite its actions (or more pointedly, its failures) felt globally. For this reason, FS-KTN was born to bring the industry and academic world to facilitate collaboration and ideally find innovative, new solutions to age-old problems. This event aims to get the dialogue going….
* I’ll be at this event! Also, I’ve been made aware that attendees are able to attend single sessions either day instead of attending the full 8 am to 5pm event. Feel free to FS-KTN (lucinda.kingswood@fs-net.org) if you want to attend a single (or two) sessions including the famous "Are Bankers Psychopaths?"
