22 September 2008
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• Source: Xinhua News Agency

BERLIN, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel Monday renewed her calls for an “international framework” to regulate financial market and promote transparency.

“These measures aren’t new, they have been elaborated at the G8 summit at Heiligendamm” during Germany’s presidency last year of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations,” Merkel said at a meeting of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under International Financial Architecture Reform, Financial Supervision, Corporate and Public Governance, Investment and Competition Policy

22 September 2008
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• Author: Glenn Somerville and David Milliken
• Source: Reuters News

WASHINGTON/FRANKFURT, Sept 22 (Reuters) - U.S. allies on Monday spurned entreaties from Washington that they enact large-scale financial bailouts, saying their banks were not exposed to the same level of reckless lending that put the American economy at risk of a deep recession.

While some European central banks offered more funding for stressed financial markets and Japan said it would offer dollar liquidity, finance ministers from the Group of Seven rich nations, who consulted by phone, issued only guarded promises to cooperate in efforts to keep market turmoil in check. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Global Financial Crises, International Financial Architecture Reform, Financial Supervision, Corporate and Public Governance, Exchange Rate Management and Monetary Policy, Macroeconomic Policy, Investment and Competition Policy

22 September 2008
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• Source: Xinhua News Agency

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) — The Group of Seven industrialized nations pledged Monday to do all they can to prevent a worsening global financial crisis from hurting the world economy.

“We are ready to take whatever actions may be necessary, individually and collectively, to ensure the stability of the international financial system,” G7 finance ministers and central bank governors vowed in a statement which was made available on the U.S. Treasury Department website. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Global Financial Crises, International Financial Architecture Reform

22 September 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: States News Service

The following information was released by the U.S. Department of the Treasury:

The Group of Seven Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors released the following statement today:

The G-7 held a conference call today to discuss global financial markets. We reaffirm our strong and shared commitment to protect the integrity of the international financial system and facilitate liquid, smooth functioning markets, which are essential for supporting the health of the world economy. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Global Financial Crises, International Financial Architecture Reform, Financial Supervision, Corporate and Public Governance, Investment and Competition Policy

19 September 2008
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• Source: AFX Asia

TOKYO, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Japan could provide funds to organisations such as the International Monetary Fund to help the world economy deal with bad debt and weather the ongoing financial crisis, Finance Minister Bunmei Ibuki said on Friday. If international organisations discuss the creation of a framework with members of the G7 or the G8, and existing bodies such as the IMF can carry out the scheme, then Japan’s government could contribute funds while arranging to prevent losses on Japanese taxpayers’ money, he said. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Global Financial Crises, International Financial Architecture Reform

18 August 2008
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• Author: Naoaki Okabe
• Source: Nikkei Weekly

A year after the subprime loan malaise surfaced, the financial crisis that originated in the U.S. shows no signs of coming to an end. On the contrary, combined with the oil and food crises, it is directly hitting the real economy. What is more, concern about stagflation is mounting, while the World Trade Organization’s Doha round of multilateral trade talks - which should have become a driving force of world trade - collapsed, touching off a trade crisis. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Global Financial Crises, International Financial Architecture Reform, Multilateral Trade

6 July 2008
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• Source: Dow Jones International News

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France (Dow Jones)–Recommendations by the Financial Stability Forum to improve regulation in the world’s financial markets and prevent the eruption of new crises should be implemented swiftly, European Central Bank Jean-Claude Trichet said Sunday. (more…)

Filed by Ivana Jankovic under Global Financial Crises, International Financial Architecture Reform, Financial Supervision, Corporate and Public Governance

3 July 2008
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• Source: ITAR-TASS World Service

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has called for renewal of the architecture of world finances.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Global Financial Crises, International Financial Architecture Reform

18 June 2008
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• Source: ITAR-TASS World Service

The G-8 summit, which is to be held in July, will not yield any cardinal decisions on problems of global economy, but it will be an important step in this direction. This is the view of Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, which he expressed during the Tuesday interview, granted here to the “Moscow Club”, an organisation of leaders of the key news agencies of the world. The meeting took place in the course of the preparations for the G-8 summit, which will be held on Hokkaido from July 7- 9 and is to be presided by Japan. (more…)

Filed by Nicole Cargill under Global Financial Crises, International Financial Architecture Reform, Exchange Rate Management and Monetary Policy

18 June 2008
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• Source: Dow Jones International News

In a first move by a European government to offset soaring energy costs, Italy approved measures Wednesday aimed at reducing fuel prices at the pump, and softening the impact of record high crude prices on Italians. (more…)

Filed by Nicole Cargill under Global Financial Crises, International Financial Architecture Reform

27 March 2008
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• Source: Reuters News

Economic downturn in the United States and a global confidence crisis is no reason to restrict cross-border investment or resort to other forms of protectionism, OECD chief Angel Gurria said on Thursday.

“Investment is key to development,” Gurria said in a speech on investment in less economically developed regions.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Global Financial Crises, International Financial Architecture Reform, Financial Supervision, Corporate and Public Governance, Multilateral Trade

27 March 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Agence France Presse

Britain and France on Thursday pushed for greater transparency on the global financial markets, urging banks to make “full and prompt disclosure” about write-downs in the wake of the credit crunch.

In a joint communique issued after a summit here, the two countries said they would “address vigorously the current problems in the financial markets” after the crisis in the US subprime mortgage sector last year.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under International Financial Architecture Reform, Financial Supervision, Corporate and Public Governance

27 March 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Reuters News

Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven industrial nations will meet in Washington on Friday, April 11, for their regular spring gathering as they try find a solution to the credit crunch, a G7 source told Reuters.

The Financial Stability Forum of senior representatives of national financial authorities, meeting in Rome on Friday and Saturday, will also present the G7 policymakers with its final recommendations on beefing up surveillance of the global monetary system.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Global Financial Crises, International Financial Architecture Reform

27 March 2008
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• Author: Adrian Croft
• Source: Reuters News

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday he hoped Britain would organise a new meeting of Europe’s big four economies on financial markets in October, but British officials took a wait-and-see stance.

“On financial market transparency, I refer to the meeting we had in London at the end of January, and I hope you will organise another one in October,” Sarkozy told British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at a news conference in London.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under Global Financial Crises, International Financial Architecture Reform

27 March 2008
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• Author: David Lawder
• Source: Reuters News

The United States and Japan should both encourage China to move towards a market-determined yuan exchange rate and open its economy to more foreign goods and competition, a senior U.S. Treasury official said on Thursday.

David McCormick, Treasury undersecretary for international affairs, said in prepared remarks to the Japan Society in New York that Japan, along with the United States, recognizes the value of a floating exchange rate.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under International Financial Architecture Reform, Exchange Rate Management and Monetary Policy

27 March 2008
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• Source: Agence France Presse

The International Monetary Fund’s executive board on Friday will weigh a proposed voting rights reform, aimed at raising the developing world’s voice but already criticized by experts as inadequate.

The reform package is the first major test of IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who took office in late September pledging to restore legitimacy to a heavily criticized institution that is losing relevance.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under International Financial Architecture Reform

20 March 2008
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• Author: Margaret Chadbourn
• Source: Market News International

The failure to find a Japan central bank
governor does not pose any problems to the International Monetary Fund,
even with apprehension in the global community as to whether or not the
world’s second largest economy is able to play an interactive role
during the ongoing turmoil in the financial and credit markets.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under International Financial Architecture Reform, Financial Supervision, Corporate and Public Governance

13 March 2008
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• Author: TERENCE POON
• Source: Dow Jones Chinese Financial Wire

China’s foreign minister indicated yesterday that Beijing is willing to work on an international code of conduct for sovereign-wealth funds, showing a more flexible stance than was projected last week by a senior executive at China’s sovereign-wealth fund.

“I believe that appropriately using sovereign-wealth funds based on international rules is beneficial to the concerned parties. The rules of the game, of course, ought to be set by all,” Yang Jiechi said.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under International Financial Architecture Reform

7 March 2008
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• Author: Victoria Ruan
• Source: Dow Jones International News

China’s US$200 billion sovereign wealth fund Thursday criticized as unnecessary a Western proposal for a code of conduct aimed at pushing such funds into accepting outside scrutiny.

“The claim that sovereign wealth funds are causing threats to state security and economic security is groundless,” Jesse Wang, an executive vice president and chief risk officer of China Investment Corp. told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.
(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under International Financial Architecture Reform, Investment and Competition Policy

25 February 2008
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• Author: Krishna Guha
• Source: The Financial Times

The US stepped up its call for reform of the International Monetary Fund on Monday, calling for a shake-up of its executive board as well as a deal on increasing the relative weight of emerging markets in the multilateral body.
The call marks an effort to renew the momentum for governance reform at the IMF, which faltered following the early departure of the former managing director, Rodrigo Rato. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the new managing director, favours governance reform but has been focused on the credit crisis and, internally, on the need to find $100m ( 67m, GBP51m) in budget cuts - including a 15 per cent reduction in the number of IMF employees.

(more…)

Filed by Anita Li under International Financial Architecture Reform

30 January 2008
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• Author: Alistair MacDonald
• Source: The Wall Street Journal

LONDON - The leaders of Europe’s four largest economies agreed to push for a tougher, more-global way of regulating the world’s markets and banks.

Led by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the leaders are banking that, by joining together, they will be able to convince the U.S. and others to sign up. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Global Financial Crises, International Financial Architecture Reform

29 January 2008
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• Author: Paul Hannon and Laurence Norman
• Source: Dow Jones International News

LONDON - The leaders of Europe’s largest economies called for greater transparency in financial markets to tackle the impact of the global credit crunch but said Europe’s economies remain sound.

The leaders said that if participants in the financial markets, including rating agencies, don’t improve transparency, authorities will resort to regulation. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under International Financial Architecture Reform

29 January 2008
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Patrick Wintour
• Source: The Guardian

Leaders of the four biggest European economies will today appeal for calm in the markets by stating that Europe’s position remains strong, and by calling for more transparency from banks and credit rating agencies. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under International Financial Architecture Reform

27 January 2008
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• Author: Takeshi Takeuchi
• Source: Dow Jones International News

TOKYO -Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga said Monday he wants to find areas where the Group of Seven industrialized countries can work together to deal with recent global market turbulence at the group’s meeting next week.

“As chairman of the meeting, I want to discuss where policy coordination is possible among the G7 members (in response to recent instability global financial markets) at the meeting, and I want to issue a message,” Nukaga told a budget committee at the Lower House of Parliament. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under International Financial Architecture Reform

26 January 2008
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• Author: Madeline Chambers
• Source: Reuters News

BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday the recent stock market turbulence was no reason to be pessimistic about the prospects for Europe’s biggest economy.

“You cannot ignore the fact that the international economic climate is weaker but the conditions are present for robust growth in Germany this year,” Merkel said on her weekly video podcast message. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under International Financial Architecture Reform