Users Conference on the Financial Crisis and Information Gaps

Conference co-hosted by The International Monetary Fund and The Financial Stability Board


This event has already taken place. The agenda below is for reference only. Upcoming events can be found here.


Date: Wednesday and Thursday, July 8-9, 2009
Venue: IMF Meeting Rooms A and B of the HQ1 Building
700 19th Street NW, Washington, DC, 20431

History has demonstrated that crises create new demands for economic and financial data and this crisis is not different. In March, the IMF and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) were asked by the G-20 Working Group on Reinforcing International Co-operation and Promoting Integrity in Financial Markets to "identify data gaps and provide appropriate proposals for strengthening data collection before the next meeting of G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors." This recommendation was endorsed by the IMF's International Monetary and Financial Committee at its Spring Meetings in April 2009.

In order to ensure these efforts are informed by users, the IMF and the FSB hosted a Users Conference during July 8-9, 2009 in Washington, D.C. International experts on financial stability and statistics from primarily G-20 economies and international agencies attended (list of participants). The purpose of the conference was to solicit views of users on which data gaps were most relevant in the build up to the crisis, and to inform the staff of the IMF and the FSB Secretariat as they prepare their report for the November 2009 meeting of the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors.

Read the summary of the key points made at the conference


Disclaimer
This website contains papers and web links to papers that were presented at the conference. The views expressed in these papers are those of the authors only, and the presence of them, or of links to them, on the IMF website does not imply that the IMF, its Executive Board, or its management endorses or shares the views expressed in the papers.

AGENDA

Wednesday, July 8, 2009
9:00 a.m. Opening remarks (Mr. John Lipsky, First Deputy Managing Director, IMF)
9:15 a.m. Session 1: Financial Crisis and Information Gaps
What are the main data issues arising from the crisis?
Chair: Mr. Alfredo Leone (Deputy Director, Statistics Department, IMF (STA))
Speakers:
Mr. Christopher Towe (Deputy Director, IMF, (MCM)); Presentation

Mr. Simon Hall (Senior Manager, Bank of England); Summary; Presentation

Mr. Michael S. Gibson (Deputy Associate Director, Division of Research and Statistics, U.S. Federal Reserve Board); Presentation
11:00 a.m. Session 2: The soundness and exposures of individual institutions
What data do we need to form a better picture of the underlying health of systemically important financial institutions? What improvements in disclosure are needed to provide these data?
Chair: Mr. Christopher Towe (Deputy Director, IMF, (MCM))
Speakers:
Mr. Hans Genberg (Executive Director, Research Department, Hong Kong Monetary Authority); Summary; Presentation

Mr. Maarten Gelderman (Head, Quantitative Risk Management Department, De Nederlandsche Bank); Summary; Presentation

Mr. Werner Bier (Deputy Director General, Directorate-General Statistics, European Central Bank (ECB)); Summary; Presentation
12:45 p.m. Lunch: Communication of statistics (Ms. Adelheid Burgi-Schmelz, Director, STA)
2:00 p.m. Session 3: Cross-border financial positions and exposures
What data do we need to form a better picture of cross-border exposures, including among financial institutions and financial systems, and external debt obligations?
Chair: Ms. Tessa van der Willigen (Senior Advisor, Strategy, Policy, and Review Department, IMF)
Speakers:
Mr. Mattias Persson (Director, Financial Stability Department, Sveriges Riksbank); Summary; Presentation

Mr. Christopher Reid (Assistant Chief, Financial Stability Department, Bank of Canada); Summary; Presentation

Mr. Bernard Wee, Deputy Director, Reserve and Monetary Management Department, Monetary Authority of Singapore; Summary; Presentation

Mr. Juan Pablo Graf Noriega (Research Manager, Directorate of External Affairs, Bank of Mexico); Summary; Presentation
4:00 p.m. Session 4: Securities, derivatives and wholesale funding markets
In which market segments (such as credit default swaps, credit risk transfer instruments, interbank markets and repo markets) is there insufficient information about prices, volumes and exposures?
Chair: Mr. Jan Willem Brockmeijer (Deputy Director, IMF, (MCM))
Speakers:
Mr. Michael Chui (Senior Economist, Secretariat of the Committee on the Global Financial System, Bank of International Settlements (BIS)); Summary; Presentation

Mr. Christopher Tsuboi (Deputy Team Lead, OTC Derivatives Market, Federal Reserve Bank of New York); Summary; Presentation

Ms. Yuko Kawai (Director, Financial Markets Department, Bank of Japan); Summary; Presentation
6:00 p.m. Close
Thursday, July 9, 2009
8:30 a.m. Session 5: Systemic indicators: Developing inputs on system-wide risks for financial stability analysis and macroprudential policy
What indicators are needed to analyze financial stability and to implement macroprudential policy? Is there a need for reprioritization of Financial Soundness Indicators?
Chair: Mr. Stijn Claessens (Assistant Director, Research Department, IMF)
Speakers:
Mr. Charles Enoch (Deputy Director, STA); Summary; Presentation

Mr. Bernd Braasch (Director, International Relations Department, Deutsche Bundesbank); Summary; Presentation

Mr. Mark Swinburne (Assistant Director, MCM); Presentation

Mr. Paul Van den Bergh (Head, Information, Statistics and Administration, Monetary and Economic Department, (BIS)); Presentation
11:00 a.m. What are best practices in monitoring systemic risks arising from hedge funds and other large unregulated non-bank financial institutions?
Chair: Mr. Benjamin V. Cohen (Financial Stability Board Secretariat (FSB Secretariat))
Speakers:
Ms. Heather Smith (Deputy Head, Investment and Securities, Cayman Islands Monetary Authority); Summary; Presentation

Mr. Ilhwan Kim (Senior Manager, Financial System Stability Department, Bank of Korea); Summary; Presentation

Mr. John Fell (Head, Financial Stability Division, Directorate Financial Stability and Supervision, ECB); Presentation
How complete and how comparable are data on non-financial corporates, household sector balance sheets, and housing markets across countries?
Chair: Ms. Lucie Laliberté (Deputy Director, STA)
Speakers:
Ms. Luci Ellis (Head, Financial Stability Department, Reserve Bank of Australia); Summary; Presentation

Mr. Paul Schreyer (Head, National Accounts Division, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development); Summary; Presentation
1:00 p.m. Lunch (Mr. Murilo Portugal, Deputy Managing Director, IMF)
2:30 p.m. Session 6: Conclusions and next steps
What are the priorities for improving data coverage, comparability and timeliness?
Chair: Mr. Christopher Towe (Deputy Director, IMF, (MCM)); Mr. Alfredo Leone (Deputy Director, IMF, (STA)); and Mr. Benjamin V. Cohen (FSB Secretariat)
3:30 p.m. Closing remarks by Mr. José Viñals, Financial Counselor and Director, IMF, (MCM)
4:00 p.m. Close


List of Participants

Participants at the Users Conference on the Financial Crisis and Information Gaps
Country Institution/Agency Name
Argentina Central Bank of Argentina Mr. Emiliano Basco
Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas Públicas Mr. Víctor Fuentes Castillo
Australia Reserve Bank of Australia Ms. Luci Ellis
Australian Treasury Ms. Susan Bultitude
Brazil Central Bank of Brazil Mr. Alvir Alberto Hoffmann
Ministry of Finance Mr. Dyogo Henrique de Oliveira
Canada Bank of Canada Mr. Christopher Reid
Department of Finance Mr. James Wu
Cayman Islands Cayman Islands Monetary Authority Mrs. Cindy Scotland
Mr. Howard Blacker
Ms. Heather Smith
China The People's Bank of China Ms. YUE Dan
Ministry of Finance Mr. ZHANG Ruohan
France Bank of France Mr. Cyril Pouvelle
Germany Deutsche Bundesbank Mr. Bernd Braasch
Federal Ministry of Finance Mr. Dietrich Lingenthal
Hong Kong SAR Hong Kong Monetary Authority Mr. Hans Genberg
India Reserve Bank of India Mr. Sudarshan Sen
Indonesia Bank Indonesia Ms. Linda M. Hakim
Italy Bank of Italy Mr. Andrea Generale
Japan Bank of Japan Ms. Yuko Yamada
Korea Bank of Korea Mr. Ilhwan Kim
Ministry of Finance and Strategy Ms. Eun-yeong Park
Mexico The Bank of Mexico Mr. Juan Pablo Graf Noriega
Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público Mr. Guillermo Guzmán Godoy
Netherlands De Nederlandsche Bank Mr. Maarten Gelderman
Russia Bank of Russia Mr. Sergey Kamburov
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency Mr. Ahmed Al-Kholifey
Singapore Monetary Authority of Singapore Mr. Bernard Wee
South Africa National Treasury Mr. Roy Havemann
Sweden Sveriges Riksbank Mr. Mattias Persson
Turkey Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency Mr. Ali Savci
Directoriate General of Insurance Mr. Mustafa Hamamcıoğlu
Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey Mr. Hasan Selcuk Sacci
United Kingdom Bank of England Mr. Simon Hall
United States U.S. Department of the Treasury Mr. William Murden
Ms. Dora Douglass
The Federal Reserve Board Mr. Michael S. Gibson
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York Ms. Wendy Ng
Mr. Christopher Tsuboi
Commodity Futures Trading Commission Mr. James Moser
International Organizations Name
Bank for International Settlements Mr. Paul Van den Bergh
Mr. Michael Chui
European Central Bank Mr. Werner Bier
Mr. John Fell
Financial Stability Board Mr. Benjamin V. Cohen
Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development Mr. Paul Schreyer
United Nations Mr. Ivo Havinga
World Bank Ms. Shaida Badiee
Mr. Eric Swanson
Mr. Ibrahim Levent
International Monetary Fund Ms. Adelheid Burgi-Schmelz
Mr. José Viñals
Mr. Jan Willem Brockmeijer
Mr. Stijn Claessens
Mr. Charles Enoch
Ms. Lucie Laliberté
Mr. Alfredo Leone
Mr. Mark Swinburne
Mr. Christopher Towe
Ms. Tessa van der Willigen
Secretariat Mr. Mariano Cortes
Mr. Robert Heath
Mr. Mico Mrkaic
Ms. Florina Tanase
Ms. Zhao Xiuzhen