To be relevant one needs to be possessing skills “Regulatory Dialectic” is a term coined by Edward Kane in the 1980s to explain the behaviour of the regulated entities and the regulator to explain the dynamics of how through innovation the regulated entities circumvent regulations and the regulator in turn finding new ways to reregulate. In other words, Kane says financial market regulation is an endless process with both the regulator and the regulated making alternative moves. As the world of banking and finance evolve rapidly, the resultant complexity of the markets on the one hand, needs commensurate and timely responses from the regulators while on the other, the markets need to understand and appreciate the need and sanctity of regulations.

Warwick Business School leveraged the pedigree of Bank of England to come up with a course that is useful to both the financial regulators and the financial entities. The course draws from the rich experiences of central bankers, finance professionals and academics – what sort of dilemmas they encountered in times that are normal and not so normal and how they tackled them. Innovations could be often disruptive but are required for a progressive society; that is true of the financial sector. The complexity with which the world of banking and finance is growing also has implications for accountability and governance aspects. This is where this WBS-BoE course on Global Central Banking and Financial Regulation stands out with curated modules encompassing topics such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, their role and limitations in financial markets as also in financial market regulation, comparative central banking to understand how regulators operate and experiment in different jurisdiction and last but not the least, the financial conduct, leadership and ethics make it a comprehensive course for students of banking and finance.

If I have to converge my thoughts on how the course has benefited me I would say this: Despite being a career central banker with over three decades of rich experience, a good chunk of which is spent in financial stability area and having quite a decent international exposure to concerning this field I found the course offering me valuable insights and is enriching. What I found the most interesting is that the course content has an emphasis on the balance between pedagogy and practice. These in turn helped me carry out my leadership role at the central bank especially in mentoring my younger colleagues in the area of financial regulation. I wish I had come across this course much earlier. I strongly recommend this to working professionals and prospective students of banking and finance who are not only wanting to excel in their profession but also eager to assume leadership roles.