International Monetary Fund

Seminars and Conferences

Seminar on Regional Financial Safety Nets

October 8, 2010

About the Seminar

  • When: Friday, October 8, 2010
  • 12 noon to 2:15 p.m.
  • Where: IMF HQ2 Building
    Conference Room 280A&B
    1900 Pennsylvania Ave NW,
    Washington, DC 20431
  • Who: One participant per region will be invited to lead the discussion
  • Contact: RFAseminar@imf.org
  • Language: English (only)
  • Lunch service will be provided

  

This seminar responds to the call from the G20 expert group on Global Financial Safety Nets and IMFC for greater cooperation between regional financing arrangements and the IMF, with a view to increasing the effectiveness of financial assistance to countries facing adverse shocks.

Regional financial safety nets can play a useful role in helping national authorities deal with volatility of capital flows. Nonetheless, the experience of the recent crisis, which severely hit many countries at once on a global scale, suggests the value of a multi-layered financial safety net where national and regional solutions could be complemented by multilateral support such as from the IMF.

Representatives of regional financing arrangements (RFAs) are invited to suggest possible modalities for coordinating efforts of national and regional authorities with the IMF’s crisis prevention and resolution roles.


Seminar on Regional Financial Safety Nets—Program
Friday, October 8, 2010
12:00 pm – 12:10 pm Opening Remarks
Mr. Naoyuki Shinohara, Deputy Managing Director, IMF (Seminar Chair)
   
12:10 pm – 12:30 pm Keynote Speech
Presentation on the “Present and Future of Regional Safety Nets: Lessons from the Recent Crisis” by Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister of Finance, Singapore
Lunch will be served
12:30 pm - 2:00 pm Roundtable Discussion:

Exploring scope for greater synergies between regional financing arrangements and the Fund

Interventions from lead speakers and other participants to focus on:

  • Lessons from the recent crisis for regional financial safety nets;
  • Exploring modalities for co-financing between the IMF and regional arrangements;
  • Facilitating precautionary lending capacity at regional level;
  • Supporting regional peer-surveillance mechanisms.
2:00 pm – 2:15 pm Concluding Remarks and Agenda Ahead
Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director, IMF