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In the U.S., the Dodd-Frank law signed in 2010 by Barack Obama regulates derivatives and speculative trading by investment banks while offering consumers and borrowers better protection, although it has since been watered down by Donald Trump.

Meanwhile in Europe though, the Banking Union that was initiated in 2014 to make the sector more reliable and address incidents without using taxpayers' money remains on track. MiFID II, under which investment service-providers have to take their clients' risk profiles into account when offering them solutions, entered into force in early 2018.

And in Switzerland, the Financial Services Act, or FinSA, and Financial Institutions Act, or FinIA, lining up Swiss regulations with EU law were adopted by Parliament in June. Add to that the worldwide push towards tax transparency, with FATCA in the U.S. and the automatic exchange of information agreements as laid out by the OECD, or Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and you have a completely revolutionized banking industry.

Every financial institution has seen its margins squeezed by the new regulations, whether it was been saved with public money or survived under its own steam.

«As many voters see it, the past decade seems like a lost one»

They have all had to comply, invest and find new growth drivers in order to stay afloat. Now that the regulatory storm seems to have blown over, it looks like most of the sector has finished adapting. Another sign that things are going back to normal is central banks' gradual unwinding of the unconventional measures they had deployed to curb the crisis.

Yet it would be a mistake to think that the scars of the most serious crisis of the century are fading already. Firstly, there is no knowing how the patient will react to the treatment ending after years on an intravenous drip. Secondly, some wounds inflicted in 2007 and 2008 have yet to heal. Furthermore, as historian Adam Tooze points out in his recent book describing the years following Lehman’s collapse*, the Great Recession has also had a profound effect on international relations and altered political balances.

As many voters see it, the past decade seems like a lost one: after having been expropriated, forced into unemployment, and seen their savings waste away, they feel doomed to chronic financial insecurity. Populists, whether right– or left–wing, have jumped on the chance to capitalize on this disillusionment. Having made it to power in several countries, they are now leading a movement towards isolationism and protectionism, and how far this will go is impossible to gauge at this stage. That is the latest toxic legacy of the 2008 crisis.

Michel Longhini has been the head of private banking at Union Bancaire Privée since 2010. Previously, he was head of Asia for BNP Paribas's wealth arm from 2003 to 2008, then global head of BNP Paribas international wealth management in Paris. He is an MBA graduate of the Lyon Business School and has 30 years of private banking experience.  

Previous contributions: Rudi Bogni, Peter Kurer, Oliver Berger, Rolf Banz, Dieter Ruloff, Werner Vogt, Walter Wittmann, Alfred Mettler, Peter Hody, Robert Holzach, Craig Murray, David Zollinger, Arthur Bolliger, Beat Kappeler, Chris Rowe, Stefan Gerlach, Marc Lussy, Nuno Fernandes, Richard Egger, Maurice Pedergnana, Marco Bargel, Steve Hanke, Andreas Britt, Urs Schoettli, Ursula Finsterwald, Stefan Kreuzkamp, Oliver Bussmann, Michael Benz, Peter Hody, Albert Steck, Andreas Britt, Martin Dahinden, Thomas Fedier, Alfred Mettler, Brigitte Strebel, Peter Hody, Mirjam Staub-Bisang, Nicolas Roth, Thorsten Polleit, Kim Iskyan, Stephen Dover, Denise Kenyon-Rouvinez, Christian Dreyer, Kinan Khadam-Al-Jame, Robert Hemmi, Anton Affentranger, Yves Mirabaud, Katharina Bart, Frédéric Papp, Hans-Martin Kraus, Gerard Guerdat, Didier Saint-Georges, Mario Bassi, Stephen Thariyan, Dan Steinbock, Rino Borini, Bert Flossbach, Michael Hasenstab, Guido Schilling, Werner E. Rutsch, Dorte Bech Vizard, Adriano B. Lucatelli, Katharina Bart, Maya Bhandari, Jean Tirole, Hans Jakob Roth, Marco Martinelli, Beat Wittmann, Thomas Sutter, Tom King, Werner Peyer, Thomas Kupfer, Peter Kurer, Arturo Bris, Frederic Papp, Claudia Kraaz, James Syme, Peter Hody, Dennis Larsen, Bernd Kramer, Ralph Ebert, Marionna Wegenstein, Armin Jans, Nicolas Roth, Hans Ulrich Jost, Patrick Hunger, Fabrizio Quirighetti, Claire Shaw, Peter Fanconi, Alex Wolf, Dan Steinbock, Patrick Scheurle, Claude Baumann, Sandro Occhilupo, Claudia Kraaz, Will Ballard, Michael Bornhäusser, Nicholas Yeo, Claude-Alain Margelisch, Jean-François Hirschel, Jens Pongratz. and Samuel Gerber, Philipp Weckherlin, Michel Longhini, Anne Richards, Michael Welti, Antoni Trenchev, Benoit Barbereau, Pascal R. Bersier, Shaul Lifshitz, Klaus Breiner and Ana Botín.