The Financial Services Forum is a non-partisan financial and economic policy organization comprising the CEOs of 20 of the largest and most diversified financial services institutions doing business in the United States.[1] The purpose of the Forum is to pursue policies that encourage savings and investment, promote an open and competitive global marketplace, and ensure the opportunity of people everywhere to participate fully and productively in the 21st-century global economy.
Issues comprising the Forum’s recent agenda include: reform and modernization of the U.S. framework of financial supervision;[2] enhancing the competitiveness of U.S. capital markets; educating policymakers regarding the importance of private capital in fueling economic growth and development around the world; preserving the 50-year consensus for free trade by promoting policies that help more Americans participate in the gains of globalization; financial sector modernization and expanded market access in China; CFIUS reform and encouraging cross-border investment; and litigation and tax policy reform.
As a group, the Forum's member institutions employ more than 2 million people in 175 countries and hold combined assets of more than $21 trillion—an amount greater than the annual economic output of the United States, China and the United Kingdom combined.
Lloyd Blankfein, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs, is the Forum’s vice chairman.
Rob Nichols, former assistant secretary for public affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department, serves as the Forum's president and CEO.[3]
Also, the Forum is the chairing institution of the Engage China Coalition, a coalition of twelve financial services trade associations.
Origin and Purpose of the Forum
The Financial Services Forum was organized by a core group of financial institution CEOs in February 2000 following the enactment of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Modernization Act of 1999 (GLBA).