Event Review
XLNC Summer Conference 2024 in Dusseldorf, Germany
All around the city of Dusseldorf, for the start of our Summer Conference, you could only feel the energy that was building up before the first game of the EURO 2024 football (soccer) tournament. What a great time to be in Germany!
On Thursday afternoon, the women who came in early were treated to a networking lunch, where they were able to connect beforehand. A short meeting before all early arrivals were guided through the streets of Dusseldorf, which showcased much of the art that the city is known for.
In addition to this, the group enjoyed wonderful pre-conference welcome drinks, hosted by local XLNC firm, Penner + Partner at Zum Schlüssel. Jörg Penner certainly provided the warmest of welcomes (with a bit of Alt).
Our conference venue was the lovely Living Hotel de Medici, in the centre of Dusseldorf's historic old town, between the Rhine and the Königsallee. It was certainly unlike most other hotel chains, and more like a personal art museum.
The restaurant provided a splendid backdrop for our Welcome Dinner, where XLNC President Martin Sharp officially kicked off proceedings with his welcome speech. A different kind of buzz flowed through the room, the energy of not just colleagues but also good friends coming together.
Friday morning, everyone was down to business. XLNC Chairman Richard Kleiner officially opened the conference, before handing over to Keynote Speaker Prof Dr Stefan Gerlach, who looked at “The Surge of Inflation: Why did the central banks fail?” – reviewing the causes of the surge of inflation that the world economy experienced since 2021, focusing on why central banks failed to predict it and to take timely action to prevent or mitigate it. Participants saw what policy choices were open to central banks and what the outlook for monetary policy is in the current junction.
Prof Dr Stefan Gerlach is Chief Economist at EFG Bank in Zurich. He served as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland during 2011-2015. Prior to that, he was Professor of Monetary Economics and Managing Director of the Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability at the Goethe University in Frankfurt, during which time he also served as an External Member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Mauritius and Member of the Monetary Experts Panel of the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.
In 2005-2007, he was Secretary to the Committee on Global Financial System at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), and in 2001-2004 Chief Economist at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Director of the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research. He spent his early career as an academic in the US and was awarded tenure at Brandeis University before joining the BIS as an economist in 1992. He earned a doctorate in international economics from the Graduate Institute in Geneva, a first degree from Lund University in Sweden, and has some 70 articles published in peer-reviewed journals, including in the American Economic Review, Journal of Monetary Economics and the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking.
After the coffee break, Jonathan Fitzgarrald (representing Scali Rasmussen, USA, but also his firm Equinox Strategy Partners) provided the group with much room for thought when he discussed “The Art of Fostering Client Relationships”.
As usual, the Focus Group meetings took over the rest of the day, and participants were encouraged to not just attend but also to contribute with their knowledge and experiences.
And before you knew it, it was the end of the day and the group made its way to Mbassy, a very cool local restaurant just around the corner from the hotel. As there was a football match during dinner, arrangements had to be made for those who wanted/needed to watch the game – but it certainly didn't distract from the final networking of the evening.
Some people were probably relieved for the quiet trip home the next day, but a small group stayed on to experience Zons and Drachenburg. Schloss Drachenburg, built between 1882 and 1884, is one of the most important castle buildings of the late 19th century in Germany. The combination of nature and culture, the romance of the landscape and unique history has attracted many thousands of visitors from all over the world every year since the beginning of the 20th century – and this year, a really great group of XLNC members and friends.
