*  *  *  Introduction: A brief history of the Systemic Risk Conference Ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased to join you at the third conference on “Risk Measurement and Systemic Risk”. This theme has gained increasing importance since the first conference in 1995.
The keen attention paid to it by the international community is evident in the fact that a number of international fora now endeavour to spot potential financial vulnerabilities which might lead to systemic crisis in the global market. Actually, the term “systemic risk” makes me a bit uneasy as it unfortunately has too realistic a connotation in my own country.