WATERLOO – Laurier’s School of Business & Economics will host a one-day conference called Global Financial Crisis on May 15, 2009.

The conference will bring together leading academics and top financial economists to address a variety of issues, including the outlook for credit markets and the banking industry, the state of the economy, and the role of federal governments and central banks.

Featured speakers will include:

* Frank Milne, Bank of Montreal professor of economics and finance, Queen's University, and former special advisor to the Bank of Canada.
* Sanjiv Das, professor of finance, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University.
* Hon Yan, professor of finance, University of South Carolina.
* Victoria Ivashina, professor of finance, Harvard Business School.
* Long Chen, professor of finance, Washington University.
* Brian Smith, professor of finance, Wilfrid Laurier University.
* Phelim Boyle, professor of finance, Wilfrid Laurier University.

“We are excited to have such a representative group of high-profile finance and banking experts who will be sharing their views on the ongoing financial situation,” said Ginny Dybenko, Laurier’s dean of business and economics.

The Laurier Finance Conference has been sponsored by the Bank of Canada in partnership with the Laurier Financial Service Research Centre (FSRC) annually since 2005.

Following the academic presentations, there will be a free panel discussion entitled 'Lessons from the Financial Crisis', which will be open to a general audience. The discussion will take place at 3:30 p.m. in room SBE1220 at Wilfrid Laurier University.