IMF Asia-Pacific Regional Seminar on Global Financial Stability Report, May 26, 2026
Source details
- Canonical URL
- IMF Asia-Pacific Regional Seminar on Global Financial Stability Report, May 26, 2026
Other formats
Contact
For event inquiries:
International Monetary Fund
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Email: OAPEconomicSeminar@IMF.org
Seminar purpose and scope
- The IMF Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific hosted a seminar featuring one of the contributors to the latest IMF Global Financial Stability Report.
- The seminar focused on how global financial markets are confronting the war in the Middle East and related amplification risks, drawing on Chapter 1 (and some insights from Chapter 2) of the Global Financial Stability Report.
Key findings and risks highlighted
- Financial markets are grappling with:
- the ongoing war in the Middle East,
- renewed inflationary pressures,
- rising risks of a sharper tightening in financial conditions.
- Several amplification channels that could transmit market stress into broader financial instability:
- Elevated public debt and increased reliance on short-term issuance heighten rollover risks in core sovereign bond markets.
- In emerging markets, carry trade unwinds and capital outflows may amplify currency pressures.
- High leverage among nonbank financial intermediaries could exacerbate volatility through forced deleveraging and liquidity strains.
- In equity markets, stretched valuations and concentration—particularly in artificial intelligence related firms—raise downside risks.
- Although liquidity mismatches in private credit remain limited, rising borrower stress and growing retail exposure could test semiliquid structures.
Policy implications and seminar purpose
- The seminar provided an opportunity to explore relevant pressing issues and their policy implications.
- Topics for exploration implied by the risks above include:
- sovereign debt rollover risk management in core markets,
- capital flow and currency pressure mitigation in emerging markets,
- supervision of nonbank financial intermediaries to limit leverage-driven forced deleveraging,
- monitoring equity market concentration risks, especially in AI-related firms,
- assessing resilience of semiliquid private credit structures given rising borrower stress and retail exposure.
Speaker and agenda details
- Speaker highlighted:
- Sally Chen, IMF Resident Representative for Hong Kong SAR, presented on "Global Financial Markets Confront the War in the Middle East and Amplification Risks (GFSR Ch.1)". Some of the insights from Ch. 2 were merged into the presentation.
- Sally Chen heads research and surveillance on financial market developments across Asia Pacific and coordinates outreach in the Greater China region. Her background includes advisory work in the Research Department for the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and work at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Her research focuses on macro-financial linkages, including global liquidity, financial cycles and the impact of debt deleveraging. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and Columbia University.
- Agenda timeline:
- 10:00 AM — Opening; Takashi Nagaoka, Director, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, IMF
- 10:05 AM — Presentation on Global Financial Markets Confront the War in the Middle East and Amplification Risks (GFSR Ch.1); Sally Chen, Resident Representative for Hong Kong SAR; Presentation
- 11:05 AM — Q&A session
- 11:25 AM — Closing & post-event survey
Content in this bundle
- Global Financial Stability Report — May 2026