April 2, 2008 – 12:59 pm
- Institution: Financial Stability Forum
- Abbreviation: FSF
- Type: Public
- Founded: 1999
- Members Total: 26 Countries with their Finance Ministers, Central Bank Governors and Heads of Supervision Authorities plus several international bodies
- Membership in: none
- Membership of:International Financial Institutions (IMF, Worldbank, BIS, OECD), International Standard Setting, Regulatory and Supervisory Groupings (BCBS, IASB, IAIS, IOSCO), Committees of Central Bank Experts, CPSS, CGFS, European Central Bank
- Description: The Financial Stability Forum (FSF) was convened in April 1999 to promote international financial stability through information exchange and international co-operation in financial supervision and surveillance. The Forum brings together on a regular basis national authorities responsible for financial stability in significant international financial centres, international financial institutions, sector-specific international groupings of regulators and supervisors, and committees of central bank experts. The FSF seeks to co-ordinate the efforts of these various bodies in order to promote international financial stability, improve the functioning of markets, and reduce systemic risk.
- Working Group:The FSF does not have permanent working groups. However, ad hoc working groups have analysed particular issues in greater detail, including the operation of highly leveraged institutions, capital flows, implementation of standards, offshore financial centres, large and complex financial institutions and deposit insurance.
- Outreach:
- Four FSF-Asian-Pacific Regional Meetings with China, India, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines and Thailand
- Four FSF Latin-American Regional Meetings with Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, Spain, and Venezuela (only 2nd and 3rd Forum)
- FSF Central- and Eastern-European Regional Meetings with Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine
- FSF European Regional Meeting with Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Turkey
- FSF African Regional Meeting with Algeria, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe
- Reporting to: G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, International Monetary and the Financial Committee of the IMF.
- Website: www.fsforum.org
- Highest Organ: Plenary Meeting
- Chair: Mario Draghi, Governor of the Banca d’Italia
- Seat: Basel
- Function: Central body to coordinate central banks, supervision authorities and finance ministers.
- Standards: The FSF has developed reference tools like the Compendium of Standards, a list of key economic and financial standards that are important for sound, stable and well functioning financial systems; the Financial Supervision Training Directory; and a Crisis Management Contact List.
Topics of this post:
basel,
central banks,
finance ministers,
financial architecture,
financial stability,
financial stability forum,
fsf,
g7,
mario draghi,
Organisations,
public,
supervision authorities
See also
8 Responses to “FSF - Financial Stability Forum”
From all outward appearances, President-elect Barack Obama expects the economic situation to worsen in 2009 and his staff are already trying to lower expectations and to look for scapegoats, and the one that first comes to mind is Ben Bernanke because if the blame for the crisis can be put on him then the Obama administration may be able to buy itself a little time.
The most deep seated problems and the one ones that will be most difficult to solve exist in the hundreds of general funds, pension funds, enterprise funds and health care plans which are all flirting with bankruptcy.
Then there is the market for state and local debt which is hovering at around $3 trillion meaning that that borrowing costs will inch up by about 50 basis points for all but the most well protected jurisdictions, and this coming spring will be prove crucial because it’s a time when many states and localities rewrite their budgets.
Reduced revenues caused by a slowing economy, along with increased investor and analyst wariness will mostly likely combine to reduce debt ratings which will further increase the cost of borrowing, which in turn will further strain revenues and although tax hikes might help they could come at the cost of further depressing business activity.
Some supposed pundits that should know better are now propagating the idea that some inflation might well be good for the economy which is hard to understand given that almost everyone agrees that spiraling house prices were what triggered the present crisis.
There is however an upside to the collapse in house prices.
The reason that house prices spiraled was that banks lent money to people whose incomes could not possibly support the loans and the continuing decline in house prices should lead to a saner relationship between the borrowers’ income and their ability to borrow.
The threat of rampant inflation does however loom on the horizon!
Long-term interest rates, led by the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage, inched up last week which is exactly what you’d expect when lenders believe that that the dollars that they’ll be getting back will have much less purchasing power than the ones that they are lending.
Neither deregulation or reregulation is going to end the crisis and only market forces can do it, but the necessary rebalancing will be painful and not swift!
Home Loan Help is one of a small network of sites that is offering help to people that are in or fear financial problems so maybe check it out.
By Michael Redbourn on Jan 4, 2009