Lanka to host SEACEN Governors’ Conference

The 45th Conference of the Governors of the South East Asian Central Banks (SEACEN) and 29th Meeting of the SEACEN Board of Governors were held on February 26 to 27, in Siem Reap, Cambodia. It was decided that Lanka will hold the next conference in February 2011.

Participating at the Conference were Governors and representatives of the sixteen SEACEN central banks and an observer central bank.

The SEACEN members include Central Bank Governors from Brunei, Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Pilipinas, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Central Bank of the China (Taiwan), Thailand and Vietnam. Asian Development Bank Vice President Lawrence Greenwood was the keynote speaker at the conference.

Governors acknowledged that the recent global financial crisis underscored the presence of systemic risk generated from excessive leverage, the inter-connectivity of financial institutions and markets, and the pro-cyclical nature of the financial sector.

They recognized that solid micro-prudential regulation and supervision was essential.

This should be supplemented with macro-prudential policies to address potential financial and economy-wide systemic risks. They noted that further efforts are required to overcome a number of practical challenges with regard to implementation of the proposed prudential tools.

Governors noted the need for greater international coordination on macroeconomic policies and prudential regulations to promote global financial stability.