Any separate group-service companies need to maintain sufficient capital and liquidity to continue to support the principal operating companies before they are wound down or sold to third parties. And it would probably be useful to have governance arrangements that give some form of control rights to the operating companies over the service companies during that transition. In broad summary, it will be apparent that, even once the statutory resolution regime is in place in all key jurisdictions, many financial groups are going to need to restructure themselves in order to achieve resolvability – financially, legally, organisationally. Indeed, a group’s choice of financial and operational structure will influence which of a SPE or MPE resolution strategy is preferred by the home and key host authorities. These will be bespoke restructurings – and will be on top of the plans for systematic structural reforms of banking around the world (Vickers, Volcker, Liikanen, and so on). Cross-border co-operation The final precondition for success I want to highlight is, of course, effective cross-border co-operation. For a SPE strategy, successful implementation will depend on the home authority providing assurances to the key host authorities so that they refrain from taking independent action. Instead the host authorities would rely on the home authority to give effect to a group-wide resolution and, where necessary under the law, would take local action to help the home authority. Host authorities are going to need to be clear about the assurances they need – ahead of time and during the execution of the groupwide resolution.
During discussions with university leaders, I heard about their exciting new partnership with NBC Universal. By working together, a new Media/Broadcast minor was created to provide the necessary coursework to prepare students for employment at NBC Universal and similar companies. To better understand the extent to which local workforce development programs are addressing skills gaps throughout Upstate New York, the New York Fed has engaged with community leaders from across the region. Our first meeting took place here in Rochester in March 2014. An important issue raised by many participants was the lack of information about available well-paying middle-skills career opportunities. To help address this concern, the New York Fed partnered with the Rochester Community Foundation, MCC, Finger Lakes Community College and Genesee Community College to launch a pilot video contest. The purpose of the contest was to increase awareness about specific middle-skill occupations identified as in demand by analysis conducted by the Finger Lakes Economic Regional Council. The contest challenged college students to create a 30-second video that identifies the skills required, expected wages and job demands for an occupational group within a targeted set of industries. At an awards ceremony held in The Little Theatre here in downtown Rochester a panel of judges selected the winning video “Not Just a Geek,” submitted by students from Finger Lakes Community College. The video focuses on the field of computer science.