Business Series: (when and what) Finance forgets

Senior representatives from leading UK financial professional bodies and the University explore the deceptively simple question

An early-evening debate at the University of Edinburgh Business School will bring together senior representatives from leading UK financial professional bodies and the University to explore a deceptively simple question: what can today’s – and tomorrow’s – finance professionals really learn from the mistakes of the past?

Drawing on the work of Edinburgh’s Library of Mistakes and the themes of its mid‑March “Weekend of Mistakes” in Hay Castle, the discussion will examine how financial history’s bubbles, frauds, crashes and policy missteps still shape the risks faced by practitioners today. Panellists will consider why lessons that seem obvious in hindsight are so hard to apply in real time, and how behavioural biases, incentives and organisational culture can blind even the most sophisticated professionals.

The debate will focus on practical implications for both working professionals and students:

• how to use historical case studies to sharpen risk judgement and ethical awareness;
• what professional standards and qualifications can do to embed historical insight in day‑to‑day decision‑making; and
• how firms and regulators might better institutionalise “memory” so that each generation does not have to relearn the same costly lessons.

The event is designed to be interactive, with audience questions and contributions encouraged throughout. It will be of particular interest to those considering careers in investment, banking, risk, regulation or financial policy, as well as to practitioners who want to stress‑test their own assumptions against the hard evidence of history.

Agenda

6pm: Registration, tea & coffee

6.30-7.30pm: Speaker presentations followed by audience questions

7.30pm: Networking with drinks

8.30pm: Event ends

Panellists

• (Chair) George Littlejohn - Senior Advisor, CISI
• Klyzza Lidman - Investment Analyst at Aubrey Capital Management and Chair of CFA UK Scottish Committee
• Tina Harrison - Personal Chair of Financial Services Marketing and Consumption, University of Edinburgh Business School
• Russell Napier - CoFounder, ERIC & Keeper of the Library of Mistakes