Conference on Financial Stability and Macroprudential Policy 2026 – Call for papers

The conference aims to bring together academics, central bankers, supervisors and market participants to present and discuss new research on financial stability and macroprudential policy. This year’s conference is expected to focus on three core topics: regulatory complexity, banking sector competitiveness and the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the banking and financial sector. The event seeks to foster a constructive dialogue among participants in order to deepen our collective understanding on these issues.

Anil Kashyap (Chicago Booth) will deliver a keynote speech, and the conference will also feature a panel discussion on the core topics listed above. Panellists will include Anat Admati (Stanford), Lorenzo Bini Smaghi (Société Générale), Claudio Borio (formerly Bank for International Settlements), and Vicky Saporta (Bank of England), with Isabel Schnabel (ECB) moderating.

The conference topics reflect important developments shaping the financial and banking sector in the last years. Since the global financial crisis, the regulatory framework for banks has been significantly strengthened and is widely regarded as having enhanced the banking sector’s resilience to shocks. At the same time, the framework has become increasingly complex, raising questions about its implications for banking sector competitiveness. These debates often reach different conclusions, also because competitiveness can be defined in various ways. In addition, new trends such as the rise of AI technologies pose both challenges and opportunities for the financial and banking sector, with potential implications for financial stability.

Against this background, we welcome empirical and theoretical contributions addressing, but not limited to, the following topics:

• How can we measure the complexity of bank regulation, and which aspects of the regulatory framework appear to be particularly complex?
• How can we measure bank competitiveness and what are the key factors affecting it?
• How does the regulatory framework affect bank behaviour, including with respect to cross-border banking, financial integration, and the provision of key services?
• How can the regulatory framework for banks be simplified without undermining resilience?
• What are the trade-offs between simplicity, risk sensitivity, and robustness in the design of capital and liquidity requirements?
• What role can stress testing play in the design of capital and liquidity requirements, including with respect to the calibration of micro- and macroprudential capital requirements?
• How does AI technology affect the banking sector, including with respect to its competitiveness, the provision of key services and the level of (systemic) risk?
• What are relevant interlinkages and interactions between banks and non-banks, and what is the role of regulation in this respect?

Submissions of full papers are welcome in PDF to MacropruConference@ecb.europa.eu until 15 June 2026. Authors of accepted papers will be notified by end-July 2026.

Venue

The conference will be held at the premises of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Expenses 

The ECB will cover reasonable travel expenses for those presenting papers and the discussants. Participants from central banks, other EU or international institutions, and financial institutions are expected to cover their own expenses.

Organising committee

• Katrin Assenmacher 
• Markus Behn 
• Madalen Castells Jauregui 
• Angela Maddaloni 
• Alessio Reghezza
• Livio Stracca

all ECB