Reclaiming Finance: Power, State Capacity and Systemic Change

Key information

• When: Wednesday 17th June at 18:30 - 20:00 BST.
• Where: Senate House, Beveridge Hall.

Insert description

This panel examines how financial systems can be reoriented to serve the common good by addressing the persistent gap between the expansion of sustainable finance and its limited impact on the real economy. While the growth of ESG and green finance suggests a shift toward long-term value creation, capital allocation remains insufficiently directed toward structural transformation and productive investment.

The panel interrogates how financial governance, incentive structures, and valuation practices shape what is considered investable and how risk and return are distributed. It highlights how these dynamics often reproduce existing inequalities and short-termism, rather than enabling transformative, inclusive, and sustainable outcomes.

The discussion then turns to the role of the state as a market shaper. It explores the capabilities required to embed public purpose within financial systems, including the strategic use of public finance, regulation, and conditionalities to align financial flows with mission-oriented objectives. In doing so, the panel foregrounds questions of accountability, directionality, and collective value creation in the governance of finance.

Key Questions

• Why does the expansion of sustainable finance continue to fall short in driving structural transformation in the real economy?
• How do financial governance structures, incentives, and valuation practices shape what is considered investable—and whose interests are prioritised?
• In what ways can the state act as a market shaper to redirect financial flows toward mission-oriented and public purpose goals?
• What capabilities and policy instruments are required to embed directionality, conditionality, and accountability within financial systems?
• How can public financial institutions be mobilised, and governed, to drive long-term, transformative investment rather than de-risk private capital alone?

The panel discussion will feature international policy makers and representatives from multilateral institutions, including a keynote from Mr Dario Durigan, Minister of Finance of Brazil, followed by a panel discussion including

• Anita Fiori, Alternate Executive Director, Inter-American Development Bank
• , Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value, University College London, and Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose
• Fernanda Santiago, Federal Treasury Attorney, Brazil

If you have any queries around access, please get in touch with a member of the team ([email protected]).

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Beveridge Hall, Malet Street, London, United Kingdom

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

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