The global financial crisis has inspired little meaningful reform, says WEF founder

“We have learned how we avoid a major global breakdown, and I think all credit has to go to the cooperation of central banks. But we have postponed to a certain extent the problem or we have found a way where we give the whole mess which we have created to the next generation to solve,” Schwab said.

“We should not forget that the global debt today is substantially higher than it (was) at the beginning of the financial crisis,” he added.

Banking risks ‘very much under control’

Almost exactly a decade ago, the failure of Lehman Brothers roiled global markets. It was the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank when it filed for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008, prompting an erosion of nearly $10 trillion in market capitalization in global equities over the following four weeks.

The collapse of Lehman unveiled that the bank had a huge problem with mortgage-backed securities — a kind of asset that was in fact worth very little compared to its price. But, more broadly, Lehman’s problems were every bank’s problems.