Standards and Codes: Can They Prevent Financial Crises?

IMF BOOK FORUM

Thursday, May 27, 2004, 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. (Light lunch to follow)
Please enter through IMF Center, 720 19th St. N.W., Washington, DC 

Transcript of the proceedings

This Book Forum is free and open to the public but a RSVP is required. Please send an e-mail to EventsRSVP@imf.org or call (202) 623-5805 if you would like to attend.

Featuring Benu Schneider, editor of The Road to International Financial Stability: Are Key Financial Standards the Answer? (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), in a round table discussion with Randall Dodd, Aziz Ali Mohammed, and Jesus Seade.

After the crisis in emerging market economies in the late 1990s, the adoption of internationally recognized standards, or codes of good practice, was seen as a way to help strengthen the international financial system. Although this initiative has brought many benefits through improved transparency, it is not unproblematic or uncontroversial, particularly for developing countries. Problematic issues include the provenance and ownership of the codes, and the cost of monitoring and administering them. These and related matters will be discussed at this Book Forum.

Benu Schneider is based in the Globalization and Development Strategies Division at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). She previously served as Research Fellow at the U.K.-based Overseas Development Institute, and as adviser and consultant to the Reserve Bank of India. Schneider is author of Capital Flight from Developing Countries.

Randall Dodd is founder and director of the Derivatives Study Center and the Financial Policy Forum in Washington, D.C.

Aziz Ali Mohammed is Honorary Advisor to the Chair, G-24, a former Alternate Executive Director and first Director of the IMF's External Relations Department, and a contributor to the present volume.

Jesus Seade (moderator) is Senior Advisor in the IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department and chairs an internal task force responsible for coordinating the IMF's work on standards and codes.