A reformer and forever optimist : Memorial conference by the Miklós Pulai Friendship Society and the Hungarian Economic Association

The Hungarian Economic Association and the Miklós Pulai Friendship Society paid tribute to Miklós Pulai, holder of an HEA economics lifetime achievement award who died last year at an online conference on 21 April 2021. Participants were welcomed by Éva Hegedűs, secretary general of HEA, chairperson-CEO of GRÁNIT Bank Zrt and member of the board of the Hungarian Banking Association. Introductory addresses were delivered by Pál Germuska, deputy-CEO of the National Archives of Hungary and Tamás Erdei former chairman of the Hungarian Banking Association. In the second part of the conference György László Asztalos university professor, former head of the State Insurance Supervision and former deputy-chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority (PSZÁF) led a discussion on the part Miklós Pulai played in the establishment and stabilisation of money and capital markets in Hungary by Ákos Péter Bod former governor of the National Bank of Hungary and deputy-chairman of HEA, Katalin Botos former minister without portfolio in charge of banking matters and Tamás Mellár former chairman of the Central Statistical Office. This paper is a summary of that informal discussion arranged around three topics