William Wright of New Financial joins high-level discussion on the future of European capital markets at the Swiss Finance Council's conference in Brussels

William Wright moderated a discussion with Enrico Letta and Colm Kelleher, chairman of UBS, on the future of European capital markets over dinner in Brussels with senior policymakers, officials, and market participants from across Europe. The dinner was part of the Swiss Finance Council's conference on building more competitive capital markets to help boost growth and resilience.

The focus of the discussion was the social, economic, and geopolitical challenges facing the EU and the rest of Europe; the extent to which capital markets are in a position to help address these challenges; the outlook for the new Savings and Investments Union (as outlined in the Letta Report last year); and the potential role that like-minded third countries such as the UK and Switzerland can play in supporting it.

In more than a decade of writing about capital markets union, William Wright has veered between being hopelessly optimistic and profoundly downbeat about it. While it is important not to get too carried away, the discussions at the event confirmed William's cautious optimism that the renewed political commitment to building bigger and better capital markets will translate into more concrete action - particularly at a national level as member states build capacity in their own markets. 

And that - over time - the EU, UK and Switzerland will be able to collaborate more closely on addressing common challenges with pan-European (rather than EU-wide) solutions. The UK - EU summit in May is the first step on that journey...

You can view a recording of the conference here.