This will be the first of a biennial series of conferences on financial stability that Banca d’Italia has decided to organise with the Baffi Centre for Applied Research on International Markets, Banking, Finance and Regulation. In the last ten years or so the objective of promoting and maintaining financial stability has strongly returned to being at the centre of the attention of policy makers in governments, central banks and supervisory and regulatory authorities. Since the global financial crisis, the regulatory framework has been substantially reformed, through the work of the Financial Stability Board, international standard-setters, regional bodies such as the European Commission, and the new laws and regulations established in jurisdictions all over the world.