Taxpayers all over the world are now footing the bill to rescue banks. Yet, it is households who are feeling the worst effects of the meltdown in the global financial system. Mortgage rates are rising after consumers have been encouraged to take on excessive housing debt, savings and pensions are threatened, and unemployment is rising. Irresponsible lending practices are the cause of this crisis. Excessive financial risk was passed down from banks to the public. Now the banks have lost faith in households to manage these, lost trust in each other’s ability to repay debts, and the supply of finance has frozen over.
The response to this crisis must involve immediate support for households, but it must also lay the ground for new rules to govern the future provision of credit.
This conference in London discussed the causes of this crisis and its impact on consumers and contributed to the development of remedies to the biggest banking crisis in 60 years.
Over 30 top name speakers, including keynote addresses from Mark Lazarowicz M.P, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Debt and Personal Finance, UK and Martin Wolf, C.B.E. Financial Times, and with speaker representatives from the European Bankers Federation, British Bankers Association, Italian Bankers Association, consumer activists, debt advice agencies, and independent experts from over 15 countries, from across Europe, U.S.A, Japan, and South Africa.
