Speakers:

Lord Brian Griffiths
Deputy chairman of Goldman Sachs International
Tarek El Diwany
Muslim Economist

Chaired By:

Evan Davis
Economics Editor BBC

For its admirers, the modern banking system is an engine of economic growth, efficiently intermediating between savers and borrowers. It employs a large part of the workforce in well paid jobs and in many countries generates substantial export earnings.

Detractors say that the huge volumes of interest-bearing loans that emanate from the modern banking system have led to debt-slavery in large parts of the developed and developing world, and distorted economic activity in a multitude of ways.