CONTEXT:

BACKGROUND The banking, capital and insurance markets have emerged unscathed from the Covid crisis, often with strengthened balance sheets. The period of closure of activities for health reasons, as well as the exceptional measures taken to combat the pandemic, did not, however, remain without traces in the economy. The explosion of inflation, fueled by the conflict in Ukraine, followed by sanctions, huge tensions in the energy market and supply chains, forces financial institutions, companies and the population to navigate a sea full of new challenges. The era of cheap finance has come to an abrupt end, and the economy is once again adjusting to the reality of rising interest rates. Increases are measured cautiously by central banks, which must balance, in a fragile balance, the need to reduce inflation and caution against the risk of a recession. The solutions to economic recovery and growth, in a difficult environment, can only work by involving the financial markets, regardless of whether it is actions in the area of government support programs or private sector initiatives. The banking market, investment and pension funds, the stock market and insurance companies are still expected to finance economic prosperity. However, financial market players are, in turn, affected by the economic turmoil and the spill-over effects of the crisis in multiple sectors to which they have exposure. Their managers are looking for their own solutions for adaptation and reinvention, in a period marked by uncertainty and market volatility.

Panel 1 – Bank financing in the years of the return of inflation

• Bank financing in years of rebound inflation Implications of rising interest rates. Perspectives for lending and saving.
• Changes in risk assessment.
• Consolidation pressures in the banking system. Different perspectives for large and small banks.
• Impact of legislative changes aimed at the banking system.
• What effects in the banking system have the measures to protect debtors from inflation (the new moratorium on installments).

Panel 2 – Challenges for stock exchange, funds and insurance

• Evolutions and prospects for the stock market, in years of rising interest rates and volatility in the markets.
• Has the stock market capitalized on the opportunities that arose after gaining emerging market status?
• Challenges for stock exchange liquidity. New listings. Impediments and solutions.
• How capital market resources can be mobilized for infrastructure projects.
• How can individual investors be convinced to come to the capital market, to have access to better returns, in a context where interest rates are also rising in the banking market.

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