* 1  *  *  Introduction  Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to extend a warm welcome to you here at this conference dinner which concludes the first day of scholarly exchange on the future of banking regulation.
In the light of the financial crisis, the subject we are dealing with has major priority and, as the agenda shows, is a very broad topic in terms of the issues it covers. Under discussion are questions about the effects of banking regulation as well as institutional aspects of how banking regulation should be organised.