Banks have already made progress towards developing a distribution strategy in which different channels are closely integrated. However, true multichannel distribution is hard to achieve and requires significant long-term investment. But if banks do manage to achieve the ideal multidistribution...

In the past 200 years, the world has experienced unprecedented economic development as well as profound demographic changes. Many dimensions of these dynamic processes are not well understood. What are the underlying forces behind the different dimensions of economic and demographic development,...

Issues to be addressed include: What is special about the public sector? Public sector efficiency. Public debt sustainability. Changes in the role and size of public sector. Incentives in the public sector. Tax-spending mix. Optimal public policy. Delay of reforms. Rent seeking, tax evasion and...

A new generation of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) is in the making: larger and deeper than most that have been signed earlier. Their focus has moved away from the elimination of tariffs to regulatory cooperation and a WTO-Plus agenda. At the same time, theoretical and empirical modelling...

Behavioural political economy uses behavioural concepts in explaining decisions of politicians, candidates for political office, voters, lobbyists, and others in the political and policymaking arena. Decision-makers may be subject to bounded rationality. Utility maximisation may be based on...

Subsidies to fossil energies are largely wasteful as they serve to increase carbon emissions, weaken public budgets and importers’ energy security, and in most cases impact income distribution adversely. Reform of energy subsidy policies is sorely needed in many countries, and is an important...

Migrants from Eastern Europe, Northern Europe and North Africa continue to make their home in Western Europe - but how well are their needs being met? Migrant banking in Europe offers a range of exciting opportunities for both financial and non-financial players. For instance, there is a small...

Achieving sales targets remains a key challenge for European banks. However, there have been some unprecedented developments within the financial services sector over the last year. These have led to a considerable change in customer, market and regulatory attitudes in relation to how banks sell...

The Future of cash conference brings together all stakeholders in the cash cycle - central banks, commercial banks, retailers, payment service providers, cash logistics companies, etc. with aim of providing a forum for the exchange of best practices and the further optimisation of the cash...

This year, therefore, the conference will focus on four key themes - New approaches to customer retention: an exploration of the effectiveness of the latest loyalty schemes; - New approaches to customer communication: engaging customers in real dialogue, using social networking sites and other...