Risk Australia 2009 conference report

Australia appears to have escaped the worst of the global financial crisis, but at Risk Australia 2009, held in Sydney last month, bankers, academics and the Australia Treasury stressed there can be no room for complacency and focus must be placed on risk management, both home and abroad. Ben Marquand reports

Senior government officials, regulators and bankers were well aware of the potential risks in the financial system presented by historically low credit spreads and volatility levels before the financial crisis started, according to speakers and delegates attending Risk Australia 2009 in Sydney on August 25. Financial models that attempted to quantify risks were not the reason for the crisis, they said, rather senior policymakers and finance executives deliberately chose to ignore the potential