## Financial and Payments Systems Task Team: Terms of Reference ## Source details **Canonical URL:** [Financial and Payments Systems Task Team: Terms of Reference](https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/data/statistics/bpm6/fitt/fitt.pdf) ## Other formats - [Markdown version](/-/media/files/data/statistics/bpm6/fitt/fitt.pdf.md) - [Structured JSON version](/-/media/files/data/statistics/bpm6/fitt/fitt.pdf.json) --- ### Mandate and scope - FITT is one of the Task Teams (TTs) established jointly by the IMF’s Committee on Balance of Payments Statistics (the Committee) and the Intersecretariat Working Group on National Accounts (ISWGNA) in the process of revising the IMF’s Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual, sixth edition (BPM6) and the System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA 2008). - Primary remit: deal with issues arising from evolution of financial and payment systems and seek input from national data compiling authorities, relevant international organizations, and IMF Departments. - Coordination: work closely with the Balance of Payments Task Team (BPTT) and the Advisory Expert Group on National Accounts (AEG) to ensure consistency and avoid duplication; AEG and BPTT are responsible for sending FITT’s Guidance Notes to the Committee and to the ISWGNA for final endorsement. - Timeline and phases: - BPM6 update process has a five-year timeline—split into two phases—ending in March 2025. - FITT’s mandate spans mostly during Phase I, which is from March 2020 to March 2022. - FITT may be consulted throughout Phase II on an as-needed basis. - Work priorities: - Undertake thorough research on issues drawn from the Committee’s and the ISWGNA’s research agendas, discuss and reach conclusions, and present proposals for endorsement by the Committee and the ISWGNA. - Key issues to be addressed are presented in the Compendium of Issues adjoining these terms of reference. - After June 2022 no new issues will be considered for inclusion in the new manual; remaining issues will be placed on a research agenda following procedures established by the Committee. - Membership and commitment: - Members work on a voluntary basis, with the capability of committing sufficient time; no remuneration is provided by the IMF. - FITT composition balances depth of expertise and geographical balance to portray countries’ views across varying degrees of statistical capacity. ### Operational framework and communications - Co-chairs and secretariat: - Co-Chairs: IMF and ECB co-chair FITT. - IMF provides the FITT Secretariat. - Working language and modalities: - Working language is English, without document translation or interpretation at meetings and videoconferences. - FITT will work primarily through electronic means, including video conferences; co-chairs may call one or more physical meetings as necessary to finalize recommendations. - IMF will facilitate electronic communication, organize videoconferences, and use appropriate technologies for document flow and management. - An IMF-hosted dedicated FITT webpage will post FITT materials and the FITT Secretariat will manage webpage content. - Meeting costs: - If a physical meeting is called, consistent with the rules of the Committee, the IMF would cover the costs of international travel and accommodation for attendance, except for FITT members from the top 20 percent of the World Bank’s list of “high income countries”. ### Guidance Notes: purpose, structure, and lifecycle - Purpose: - Key documentation for each item/concept will be a “Guidance Note” (GN) to foster focused and efficient discussions and ensure consistent and complete coverage of review items. - FITT may consider other financial and payment systems issues raised by its members or other TTs if relevant to the BPM update; research issues labeled as high priority should be the core of FITT’s work. - Standard format of a Guidance Note (Annex II): - Guidance Notes should comprise two sections: - SECTION I: THE ISSUE — Background (not exceeding two pages), Issues for Discussion (not exceeding two pages, excluding annexes), and Supplementary Information (in annexes). - Background to include a clear statement of the issue and a quantitative size of the issue if known; current international standards for treatment of the issue with specific references; concerns/shortcomings. - Issues for Discussion to include possible alternative treatments/options (distinguishing those requiring changes in the core framework vs. those developed outside the framework) and questions/points for discussion. - Supplementary Information may include references to other documentation. - SECTION II: OUTCOMES (not exceeding two pages) — Recommendation: either (a) to revise: describe proposed revision, rationale, and practical feasibility; or (b) not to revise: provide arguments in support of the position; rejected alternatives with reasons for rejection; identify changes required to current statistical standards; if relevant, identify in an annex all chapters/paragraphs to be updated with suggested text. - Lifecycle and review process: - Guidance Notes will be discussed by written consultations or videoconferencing. - Once a conclusion is reached, recommendations will be summarized in Section II and sent to the AEG and BPTT for initial review. - Draft Guidance Notes are made publicly available for wider consultation—including with national compilers to test practicality. - If revisions are significant, a second-round review by the AEG and BPTT will occur before presentation to the Committee and the ISWGNA for endorsement. - The key working procedures and review processes are described in governance Figure 1 and detailed in Table 1 (approval flows differ for BPTT Guidance Note, Other TT Guidance Note, and Joint TT Guidance Note). - BPTT plays an oversight role for other BPM TTs and a coordinating role with the Joint TTs (and the SNA Task Teams); it reviews draft GNs primarily for overall consistency by ensuring proposals have considered related proposals/discussions of other TTs including SNA TTs. ### Decision-making, reporting, and endorsement - Decision-making: - FITT will strive to take decisions by consensus. - If decisions cannot be taken by full consensus, minority dissenting opinions will be properly documented in the Guidance Notes (for instance, via footnotes). - Decisions on the acceptance of FITT recommendations reside with the Committee for the BPM6 Update and with the ISWGNA for the SNA update. - Reporting: - FITT will submit periodic reports to the Committee and the ISWGNA through its co-chairs. - Key reports include progress reports to the Committee’s annual meeting (usually in October) and to the United Nations Statistics Commission (usually in March), which will include outcomes and recommendations from Guidance Notes. - Final endorsement and divergence resolution: - Final endorsement of recommendations on the BPM6 Update resides with the Committee and should take account of editors’ views; the Committee may seek SNA/BPM editors’ views if it has reservations. - For Joint TTs, endorsement of recommendations resides with both the Committee and the ISWGNA using their respective procedures. - If divergent views emerge, Committee and ISWGNA Chairs may request SNA/BPM Update editors’ views. - If the editors’ views also diverge, the Committee and the ISWGNA may consider adopting their respective positions with transparent documentation of points of departure. - Where adoption of change/update to guidance for BPM7 is decided, this will be reflected in the annotated outline and the issue closed. - The Committee should also carefully consider retaining the status quo (i.e., no change) and placing the issue on a future research agenda where appropriate. ### Governance nuances from Figure 1 and Table 1 (summary) - BPTT reviews primarily for overall consistency; AEG first review of GNs is required only for (i) joint groups (FITT, IETT, IFTT, IP TT); and (ii) GNs of BPTT, CATT and DITT if issue impacts SNA. - BPTT and other BPM TTs send to ISWGNA only those GNs that impact the SNA; joint TTs send GNs to both the Committee and the ISWGNA. - For GNs of Joint TTs, Chairs of both the Committee and the ISWGNA make the request; the Committee may utilize this option if it has reservations about the TT’s proposals. ### Membership and secretariat (Annex I) - Co-Chairs: - Mr. Artak Harutyunyan (IMF STA) - Mr. Celestino Girón (ECB) - Secretariat: - Mr. Joji Ishikawa (IMF STA) - Mr. Kenneth Egesa (IMF STA) - Mr. Borys Cotto Cobar (IMF STA) - Members (27): - Armenia: Mr. Mher Barseghyan (until August 2021) - Indonesia: Ms. Pujiastuti Abassuni - Italy: Mr. Gabriele Semeraro - Japan: Ms. Masako Kominami - Portugal: Ms. Paula Menezes - Serbia: Ms. Maja Gavrilovic - South Africa: Mr. Barend De Beer - Switzerland: Mr. Simon Bösenberg - Uganda: Mr. Emmanuel Ssemambo - United Kingdom: Mr. Perry Francis - United States: Ms. Ruth Judson - BIS: Mr. Patrick McGuire - ECCB: Ms. Prunela Charles-Williams - Eurostat: Mr. Enrico Infante; Mr. Phillippe de Rougemont - FSB: Ms. Esti Kemp (until August 2021); Ms. Takao Miyamoto (starting August 2021) - IPSASB: Mr. Joao Fonseca - OECD: Mr. Jorrit Zwijnenburg - UNSD: Mr. Benson Sim (SNA nominee) - IMF: Ms. Evrim Bese-Goksu (STA Balance of Payments); Mr. Antonio Galicia-Escotto (STA Balance of Payments); Mr. Renato Perez (STA Balance of Payments); Mr. Mher Barseghyan (STA Balance of Payments—since August 2021); Mr. Marshall Reinsdorf (STA National Accounts—until January 2021); Ms. Shirono Kazuko (STA Financial Institutions); Mr. Jose Carlos Moreno (STA Financial Institutions); Ms. Nabila Akhazzan (STA Government Finance); Mr. John Kiff (MCM—until April 2021); Ms. Inutu Lukonga (MCM—starting May 2021). --- _Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/data/statistics/bpm6/fitt/fitt.pdf_