The global financial system and the world economy are still recovering from a credit crisis that began in the spring of 2007 and continues to this day. Now governments are debating how to change the financial system to prevent this from happening again. At this conference, financial experts and banking leaders convened to present proposals for regulatory change for the banking system, derivatives, credit rating agencies, and corporate governance and compensation.
 
NERA Vice President Dr. James Overdahl, former Chief Economist and Director of the Office of Economic Analysis for the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), delivered a presentation entitled "A Review of the SEC's Short-Selling Ban of 2008." While the SEC's longstanding view has been that short selling helps investors by playing a useful role in price discovery, risk management, and lowering the overall cost of trading and raising capital, the SEC departed from this view in September 2008 with a three-week ban on short sales for financial stocks. Dr. Overdahl discussed the effects of the ban, particularly its impact on the convertible bond market and convertible arbitrage activity.