Bankers Have Low Expectations for the G-20 Summit

LONDON, April 1, 2009 — -- As President Obama and the leaders of the 20 most powerful and developing nations in the world gather in London this week to develop a way out of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, many bankers here are questioning how likely they are to come up with viable reforms.

But while most analysts are certain that the summit will fall short of the grand expectations British Prime Minster Gordon Brown and his counterparts set out late last year, some bankers are mildly optimistic.

"It is very good to see that this is the G-20 summit meeting and not the G-7 or the G-8, given the gravity of the situation and the structure of the world today," Vittorio Perona, managing director of the energy and utilities group at the European investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort, told ABC News. "A longer table of world leaders could not be more crucial at this time."

Despite security concerns, Perona said the G-20 could not have chosen a more symbolic place to meet.

"In terms of location, the city of London could not be a more appropriate place to have the meeting since this is where capital flows really originated a few hundred years ago," he said. "Still, one would hope that while exercising their right to march, the demonstrators would not revert to violence to make their point."

As for the success of the G-20, Perona said it depends on several factors: How fully all the main countries are willing to agree on a common set of actions to manage the crisis, how willing they are to agree on the extent of the financial packages and, more importantly, where to draw the line.

"The key is to limit excesses that could be very damaging," he added.