Press Release No. 08/297

Press Release: IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn's Announcement Regarding Jaime Caruana's Move to the Bank for International Settlements

November 21, 2008

Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), today confirmed that Mr. Jaime Caruana, who has been Financial Counsellor and Director of the IMF's Monetary and Capital Markets Department (MCM), will leave the Fund in April 2009 to become General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Pending his departure, Mr. Caruana will continue to serve as Financial Counsellor, leading the Fund's work on key financial sector issues, including the Global Financial Stability Report, while relinquishing his operational responsibilities as Director of MCM.

"Like all of us, I am very sorry to see Jaime go, but I also would like to congratulate him on this prestigious assignment. It is a great compliment to him, and to the Fund as well," Mr. Strauss-Kahn stated. "I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for the outstanding work he has done since he joined the Fund in 2006. He was charged with merging two departments, the International Capital Markets and Monetary and Financial Systems departments. This has been accomplished efficiently and effectively," the Managing Director added, noting, "This has certainly been an exciting and challenging time to lead the department and Jaime has been instrumental in significantly strengthening the Fund's work on financial sector issues and, more recently, our work on macro-financial linkages."

Mr. Strauss-Kahn pointed to the enhanced role of the Global Financial Stability Report under Mr. Caruana's leadership, calling it "a flagship intellectual product of the Fund." He also underscored the role played by Mr. Caruana in helping to design the "Santiago Principles," a framework for the governance of sovereign wealth funds. "This involved many months of careful and painstaking discussion, and achieving consensus on this important issue required world-class diplomatic skill—which Jaime epitomized," Mr. Strauss-Kahn stated.

"Jaime Caruana has played a key role in bringing financial sector analysis to the heart of the Fund's policy toolkit," stated Mr. John Lipsky, the IMF's First Deputy Managing Director. "His experience and insight in financial sector regulation has helped to guide the Fund's proposals for overcoming the current crisis. We have benefited from Jaime's contribution and look forward to working with him and his new BIS colleagues."

The process will begin shortly for selecting a new Director for the Monetary and Capital Markets Department.

Prior to assuming his post as Director of the MCM (see Press Release No. 06/120), Mr. Caruana was Governor of Banco de España, Spain's central bank. In addition to serving on the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, he was also the Chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and, in that capacity, a member of the Financial Stability Forum. Mr. Caruana also served as Director of the Spanish Treasury and headed investment services and a fund management company for nearly 10 years prior to that.