Watch the 2022 conference via our Youtube channel now.

This annual conference brings together policymakers, market economists and leading academics to discuss current issues in monetary and financial stability policy with a deliberate focus on the UK.

The purpose of the conference, which was inspired by the well-known European Central Bank Watchers’ Conference and the US Monetary Policy Forum, was to bring together leading academics, policymakers, and financial market practitioners to discuss and debate salient policy issues facing the Bank of England at this juncture.

The event is being jointly organised by the Money Macro Finance Society and King's Business School at King’s College London. 

Programme

09:00 – 09:45 Registrations/Refreshments

09:45 – 10:30 Keynote speech by Dave Ramsden (Deputy Governor, Bank of England)

10:30 – 12:00 Panel 1: Asset Purchases

What have we learned about the impact of Quantitative Easing on markets? What is the appropriate sequencing of QT and rate hikes in the tightening cycle? Is there a practical or theoretical upper bound on asset purchases? How should the motivation for purchases (price vs. financial stability) influence policy choices? What’s the appropriate size of the central bank balance sheet?

Panellists: Huw Pill (Bank of England), Lucrezia Reichlin (London Business School), Gertjan Vlieghe (Element Capital)
Chair: Claire Jones (Financial Times)

12:00 – 13:00 Lunch

13:00 – 13:45 Keynote speech by Isabel Schnabel (Member of the Executive Board, ECB)

13:45 – 15:15 Panel 2: Inflation

What has caused the rise in inflation? What have we learned about forecasting inflation? Will inflation expectations drift higher in these circumstances and what that would imply about the inflation outlook? How can we assess that risk of de-anchoring in real time and the appropriate monetary policy response? Can central banks credibly deliver this response if it implies a steep rise in unemployment?

Panellists: Charles Goodhart (London School of Economics), Catherine L. Mann (Bank of England) Ben Nelson (Balyasny Asset Management)
Chair: Soumaya Keynes (The Economist)

15:15 – 15:30 Coffee

15:30 – 17:00 Panel 3: Independence and Accountability

Is there merit in moving away from an inflation target? Is there enough clarity on the FPC remit? Are capital markets sensitive to changes in institutional arrangements? Has the Bank become over-burdened? What should be done to make policymakers more accountable?

Panellists: Ed Balls (Harvard and King’s College London), Vicky Pryce (CEBR), Lord Andrew Tyrie (House of Lords), Sushil Wadhwani (PGIM Wadhwani)
Chair: Chris Giles (Financial Times)

About the chairs

Chris Giles, Economics Editor, Financial Times. Based in London he has a particular focus on trends in the world economy and in the UK. Previously at the Financial Times, he was the economics editorial writer.

Claire Jones, International Economy News Editor within the global economy team, Financial Times. She joined the FT in 2011 to cover economics and markets in the UK and the eurozone.

Soumaya Keynes, Britain Economics Editor, The Economist. She also co-hosts the podcast Money Talks, The Economist's weekly podcast about economics, business and finance. Prior to her current posting, she held the positions of Trade & Globalisation Editor and US Economics Editor based in Washington DC. Prior to joining The Economist, she worked at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, doing policy-relevant economic research on the British state pension system and public finances.

About the panellists

Huw Pill, Chief Economist and Executive Director for Monetary Analysis at the Bank of England. At the Bank of England, he is responsible for analysis which informs their monetary policy decisions, more information can be found at the Bank of England.

Lucrezia Reichlin, Professor of Economics at the London Business School. She is a macroeconomist and econometrician and has pioneered methods for the economic analysis of large dimensional data and now-casting. Previously, she was director general of research at the European Central Bank from 2005 to 2008. She is also a Fellow of the British Academy and of the Econometric Society and is an honorary international fellow of the American Economic Association.

Gertjan Vlieghe, Chief Economist at Element Capital. His primary responsibilities include: providing oversight, direction and support for Element Capital’s global economic research efforts. Prior to joining Element, Dr. Vlieghe spent 6 years at the Bank of England as a member of the Monetary Policy Committee. Previously, he worked as a senior economist and partner at Brevan Howard and before that was a bond strategist at Deutsche Bank.

Charles Goodhart, Emeritus Professor of Banking & Finance at the Financial Markets Group within London School of Economics. Previously, he was the Norman Sosnow Professor of Banking and Finance and there until 2002, more information can be found at the Financial Markets Group, LSE.

Catherine L. Mann, member of the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England. Having recently been appointed on 1 September 2021, she is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Economic Association and previously worked Citibank, where she was the Global Chief Economist from February 2018 to May 2021, more information can be found at the Bank of England.

Ben Nelson, Director of Macro Research at Balyasny Europe Asset Management LLP. He joined Balyasny in October 2022 from Rokos Capital Management where he was a Senior Economist, with a particular focus on the UK. Prior to that, Ben was a Senior Economist at the Bank of England, where he was Economic Assistant to the Governor. Ben holds a DPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford.

Ed Balls, former Shadow Chancellor now Professor of Political Economy, Social Sciences and Public Policy at King's College London and previously a teaching fellow at Harvard University, more information can be found at the Strand Group.

Vicky Pryce, Economist & Business Consultant. Has held recent directorships ranging from Managing Director at FTI Consulting to Director General for Economics at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. She is also the published author of six books, more information can be found on her website.

Lord Andrew Tyrie, former chair of the Competition and Markets Authority from June 2018 to September 2020. You can view his parliamentary experience and history at the House of Lords.

Sushil Wadhwani, Chief Investment Officer for PGIM Wadhwani - which was originally founded as Wadhwani Asset Management in October 2002. Prior to joining PGIM, Sushil served as the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Wadhwani Asset Management. Previously, Sushil was a Member of the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England. He also served as the Director of Quantitative Systems at Tudor Investment Corporation, Director of Equity Strategy at Goldman Sachs, and as an academic economist at the London School of Economics.

Licenses

"1:1 portrait of Lord Andrew Tyrie" by UK Parliament is licensed under Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)

"Vicky Pryce, Greece and the Eurozone: A New Approach?, Tuesday 11 December 2012" by Chatham House is licensed under Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

Conference Organisers

Professor David Aikman (Director of the Qatar Centre for Global Banking and Finance, King’s Business School) [contact: david.aikman@kcl.ac.uk]

Dr Richard Barwell (Head of Macro Research at BNP Paribas Asset Management) [contact: richard.barwell@bnpparibas.com]

Professor Paul Mizen (Deputy Director of the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence, Kings Business School) [contact: paul.mizen@kcl.ac.uk]

We welcome comments on this event and suggestions for themes to focus on in future years.