The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in early March left many wondering whether the global financial system was on the precipice of a 2008 style meltdown. Just as the waters seemed to calm after that, UBS stepped in to buy Credit Suisse as that bank collapsed and as we record this regional First Republic Bank seemed to be teetering. The risks inherent to and the regulation of banking is the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guest Dr. John Liechty.

Dr. Liechty is a Professor at the Smeal College of Business, with a courtesy appointment as a Professor of Statistics at the Eberly College of Science. He is interested in the creation of public goods and the role that universities can play in these efforts. Past initiatives include leading an effort that resulted in a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 that creates a new Office in the U.S. Treasury, the Office of Financial Research, which has the mandate to provide better data and analytic tools to the regulatory community in order to safeguard the U.S. financial system.