More trust in the financial markets needed
Manfred Weber at the Third Liechtenstein Dialogue

5 October 2006 – Talking in Liechtenstein today, Manfred Weber, Chief Executive Officer of the Association of German Banks, asked for more trust in the self-regulatory forces of the financial markets. At the same time he called for a “regulatory pause” in supervision of banks. Numerous rules had been issued particularly in the field of risk management and corporate governance in recent years, he said, and these now first had to stand up in practice.

Mr Weber gave banks as a whole good marks. He said they had made serious efforts over the past few years to enhance their risk management and meet good corporate governance standards. At the same time, Mr Weber pointed out that a few other financial market players, such as hedge funds, which were not yet subject to supervision still had some catching up to do. They needed to make improvements, at least as far as the transparency of investment decisions and of internal incentive and control structures was concerned.

“Effective corporate governance and effective risk management have become important factors in investors’ decisions”, Mr Weber said. Investors and supervisors increasingly wanted more transparency. It was therefore in the interest of all financial market players to meet this requirement. Particularly the current troubles of a hedge fund showed that there was more room for improvement. It was up to the market players concerned to respond appropriately to the growing concerns of investors, supervisors and the general public.

Statement Manfred Weber