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The Bank of England Watchers’ conference is an annual event which seeks to bring together the diverse community of people who have an interest the work of the Bank of England – and central banking more broadly. Our attendees include prominent policymakers at the BoE, plus economists and Bank watchers from roles in academia, think tanks, financial markets, politics, and the media.

The event is organised by Dr Richard Barwell (BNP Paribas Asset Management), Professor David Aikman and Professor Paul Mizen (King's Business School).

Get in touch: qcgbfevents@kcl.ac.uk

Programme

8:15 - 8:50 Registration + coffee

8:50 - 9:00 Welcome

9:00 - 10:00 Keynote speech: Clare Lombardelli (Bank of England)

Chair: Francine Lacqua (Bloomberg)

10:00 - 10:30 Coffee

10:30 - 12:00 Panel 1: Inflation dynamics

Which of the competing explanations for the surge in inflation is now most accurate?  What has been the role of monetary policy in contributing to the decline of inflation from its peak?   What are the key lessons learned about inflation dynamics for the future?

Panellists: Swati Dhingra (Bank of England), Ben Nabarro (Citi), Ricardo Reis (LSE)

Chair: Claire Jones (FT)

12:00 - 13:00 Lunch

13:00 – 14:30 Panel 2: Liquidity risk in the financial system

How can we improve the resilience of liquidity in financial intermediaries (banks and nonbanks) and in markets, and limit contagious spillovers across borders? What metrics are informative about emerging vulnerabilities in this area? How should central bank liquidity operations be amended – including asset purchases, lending operations and coordination across borders?

Panellists: Pablo Hernández de Cos (Banco de Espana), Victoria Ivashina (Havard Business School), Colin Teichholtz (Formerly Element Capital and Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee)

Chair: Richard Berner (NYU)

14:30 – 15:00 Coffee

15:00 – 16:30 Panel 3:  Reactions to the Bernanke Review

What should be the role of the forecast in the MPC’s policy process and who should have responsibility for producing the forecast?  What should be the appropriate conditioning assumptions used in the MPC’s forecast, including the interest rate path?  What information is it useful (or not) for the Bank to publish in the Monetary Policy report, including the role of fan charts, scenarios etc?  Will the proposed new process better meet the needs of Bank watchers?

Panellists: Charles Bean (LSE), Petra Geraats (Cambridge), Gertjan Vlieghe (Millenium)

Chair: Chris Giles (FT)

16:30 – 17:30 Keynote speech: Philip Lane (ECB)

Chair: Stephen Cecchetti (Brandeis) 

 

About the chairs

Francine Lacqua (Bloomberg): Francine is an award-winning London-based anchor for Bloomberg Television. She anchors the daily weekday program “The Pulse with Francine Lacqua’ which features exclusive interviews with high profile guests from the worlds of global business, economics, finance and politics.

Claire Jones (Financial Times): Claire Jones is part of the Financial Times' global economy team. She joined the FT in 2011 to cover economics and markets in the UK and the eurozone. She previously was in the publications Washington bureau. She graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Richard Berner (NYU): Richard Berner is Emeritus Clinical Professor of Management Practice in the Department of Finance, and, with Professor Robert Engle, is Co-Director of the Volatility and Risk Institute at the NYU Stern School of Business. Professor Berner served as the first director of the Office of Financial Research (OFR) from 2013 until 2017.

Chris Giles (Financial Times): Chris Giles is the FT’s economics commentator. He writes a fortnightly column and the weekly newsletter, Chris Giles on Central Banks (sign up here). Previously, he was economics editor and served as a leader writer.

Stephen Cecchetti (Brandeis):  Professor Cecchetti was Economic Adviser and Head of the Monetary and Economic Department at Bank for International Settlements from July 2008 to November 2013. Prior to joining BIS, Prof Cecchetti was the Barbara and Richard M Rosenberg Professor of Global Finance at Brandeis International Business School.

About the panellists:

Swati Dhingra (Bank of England): Swati is an external member of the Monetary Policy Committee and associate Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, and an Associate of the Centre for Economic Performance at LSE.  Recently, she has also been a member of the UK’s Trade Modelling Review Expert Panel and the LSE’s Economic Diplomacy Commission.

Ricardo Reis (LSE): Ricardo Reis is the A.W. Phillips Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy, the Academia de Ciências de Lisboa, and the Econometric Society.

Pablo Hernández de Cos (Banco de Espana): Pablo is former Governor of the Banco de España and Chair of the Advisory Technical Committee of the European Systemic Risk Board. As Governor of the Banco de España from June 2018 up to June 2024, he has also been member of the Governing and General Council of the ECB.

Victoria Ivashina (Havard Business School): Victoria is the Lovett-Learned Professor of Finance and Head of the Finance Unit at Harvard Business School. She also serves as a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and Research Fellow at the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).

Colin Teichholtz (Formerly Element Capital): Until earlier this year Colin Teichholtz was Principal and Head of Markets at Element Capital. From 2011-2019, he was Partner and senior portfolio management roles at Pine River Capital, and was Head of Fixed Income at BlueMountain Capital.