The Hessian Minister of Finance Dr. Thomas Schäfer visited the Center of Excellence „Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe“ (SAFE) at Goethe University's House of Finance. SAFE is a cooperation of the Center for Financial Studies and Goethe University Frankfurt that is dedicated to research and policy advice in the area of finance. The Center receives 13 million Euro in funding over the first three years of a projected six-year period by the Hessian state government’s program „Landes-Offensive zur Entwicklung Wissenschaftlich-ökonomischer Exzellenz“ (LOEWE) .
Prof. Jan Pieter Krahnen, one of SAFE’s three directors, gave an overview of the development of the Center and presented first successes. Around 30 research projects have already been started, a working paper series has been set up which includes 24 contributions by now, and five visiting researchers have been welcomed to the Center in the first months. Also, the recruitment of new researchers is proceeding very successfully .Four of five advertised PostDoc positions, four of six junior professorships and one of five full professorships could already be filled with excellent candidates. The negotiations for three more professorships are almost finished
Afterwards, Prof. Christian Leuz provided an overview of current plans by the US government concerning banking regulation in order to give the minister the opportunity to gain further insight in the policy-related research of SAFE. The planned rules for foreign banks that are operating in the United States have recently caused disturbance. Leuz, a Chicago Booth School of Business researcher who is currently in Frankfurt as a visiting professor, presented the genesis of the regulation process and the most important criticism. He warned of a regulatory competition between the leading financial locations worldwide. Liquidity requirements for banks could possibly get uneconomically high in total. He also agreed with the minister’s presumption, that excessive regulation would increase the problem of shadow banking.
After the lecture, SAFE scholars presented their research projects and objectives to Minister Schäfer based on a poster session.
Photo: Thomas Schäfer in a discussion with Christian Leuz and Andreas Hackethal, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
