Finance
Top bankers stress resilience and wisdom key to navigating uncertainty
The leaders of some of the world’s biggest financial companies firmly believe “resiliency and wisdom” hold the key to a global economy facing geopolitical tensions, financial market jitters and uncertainty about the coming transition in Washington.
Market participants should handle the challenges coming from all directions step by step while keeping faith that the issues can be resolved, they said at the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in Hong Kong on Tuesday. The event, organised by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, is in its third year and this year’s theme is “Sailing through changes.”
“We’re seeing everyone recognise we’ve got to build up resiliency,” said Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup. “It’s easy to say globalisation is dead. It’s not. It’s just changing tremendously.”
BNP Paribas chairman Jean Lemierre said trade is a matter of negotiation. “The end result will be an agreement because otherwise it would be terrible for each of us.”
Lemierre said that wisdom should lead to solutions for trade tensions, which is all about “tariff, quota, reciprocity and timing”.
“We know the parameters of the discussion, so wisdom should lead to this type of approach,” he said.