U.S. Treasury Tabs Rossi, Madan Among Speakers for Financial Reform Conference

Robert H. Smith School of Business faculty members Cliff Rossi and Dilip B. Madan are among experts selected by U.S. Treasury officials to speak at a conference on financial reform.

The event, "Macroprudential Toolkit: Measurement and Analysis" takes place Thursday and Friday, Dec. 1-2 at the Hyatt on Capitol Hill. (Macroprudential refers to focus on the financial system as a whole, as opposed to individual institutions, markets, and infrastructures).

It's an early product of the Office of Financial Research and Financial Stability Oversight Council - both created by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Operating within the Treasury, the OFR supports the council comprised of Federal Reserve, Treasury and other agency officials.

The event is designed to gather "thought leaders from the financial regulatory community, academia and the financial services industry to discuss data and technology issues and analytical approaches for assessing threats to financial stability."

Madan, a professor of finance, is participating in a first-day, afternoon panel discussion on "Market and liquidity metrics as indicators of systemic fragility."

Rossi, executive-in-residence and Tyser Teaching Fellow, will present a recent paper on risk governance as part of a second-day, afternoon session, "Risk Management: What's the Frontier."

“The OFR is a new agency starting to flex its muscle by identifying issues and analytical approaches for assessing and mitigating threats to the financial markets,” Rossi said. “It's especially timely to thebreaking developments surrounding the debt crisis in Europe.”

With about 25 years’ experience in banking and government and having held senior executive roles in risk management at several large financial services companies, Rossi was asked to participate by OFR director Richard Berner, a counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, who will speak during the conference as well.