As financial turbulence reaches unprecedented levels around the world, a group of top experts and representatives of international institutions will participate in ICC’s Commission on Financial Services and Insurance meeting taking place next week in Paris.

Each year, ICC’s Commission on Financial Services and Insurance plays host to business leaders, finance experts, insurers, and government officials at meetings aiming to promote business-to-business dialogue and recommend policies to enhance finance practices throughout the world. The Commission is chaired by Victor Chu, Chairman of First Eastern Investment Group, Güler Manisali Darman, Principal GMD Global Advisors Ltd, and Charles Heeter, Managing Principal, Deloitte Touche, Global Public Policy, and Chair of the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD.

The Commission has already been successful in advancing corporate governance, finance and business interests in various regions of the world. Past meetings, held in England, Turkey, and the Czech Republic have typically attracted more than 100 delegates from more than 40 countries.

The first day of the two-day meeting next week will feature a roundtable on corporate governance entitled “Thinking Strategically about Governance and Financial Challenges”. The roundtable will comprise four sessions. The first session will focus on corporate governance as a dispute resolution mechanism, the second session will look at corporate governance of non-listed companies in emerging markets, the third session will cover the contractual governance of private equity and hedge funds and the fourth session will discuss collaboration on corporate governance in the midst of recent financial challenges.

On the second day, discussions will focus on how finance has been affected following the recent turmoil triggered by rising delinquencies in the US sub-prime mortgage market credit crunch. It will provide analysis on specific issues related to sovereign wealth funds, the credit rating process, valuation of complex securities, and off-balance sheet vehicles. Accounting norms and how they cope with the current financial innovations will also be looked at on the second day of the meeting. The need for new regulations will be examined in a specific session.

With guest speakers from Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and the US, these issues will be addressed from a truly global perspective.

Key speakers include: Dominic Casserley, Managing Director of McKinsey, UK and Ireland; Clara Gaymard, CEO of General Electric France; and Maurice Lévy, Chairman of the Management Board of Publicis Group.