3rd Annual Ivey Sustainability Conference
When it comes to preventing another financial crisis, regulation isn’t the only option.
That was the message from Richard Nesbitt, HBA ’78, Senior Executive Vice-President of CIBC, in his keynote address for the 3rd Annual Ivey Sustainability Conference. The event was organized by Ivey MBA students with support from the Building Sustainable Value Research Centre.
Nesbitt spoke about the causes of the 2007-08 financial crisis, how the crisis affected the economy and what is being done to prevent a future financial crisis.
“There has to be good quality regulation, but, even in spite of that, people will still fail,” he said. “Regulation alone cannot prevent the next crisis.”
Instead, he stressed organizations’ choice of CEOs and board governance matter more in terms of setting the tone at a company.
“Some problems can be solved by having the right crop of CEOs doing the right things. Some of you one day might be in those positions and you can make all the difference,” he told students.
Nesbitt said future leaders need to focus on the culture at investment banks and establish some core values, perhaps even introducing a code of conduct. He also said people need to accept that crises are a normal part of a sustainable economy.
“Ultimately, we must accept that failure is part of the system in a capitalist economy. There should be no such thing as too big to fail,” he said.
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