4th ASEAN+3 Economic Cooperation and Financial Stability Forum (AMRO Forum)

Mr. Yasuto Watanabe assumed office as Director of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) on May 27, 2025, bringing over 30 years of experience in international finance, development finance, financial regulation, and regional financial cooperation. Prior to this appointment, he served as Senior Deputy Vice Minister of Finance at Japan Ministry of Finance, with a focus on Asia-Pacific regional issues.

Mr. Watanabe has held senior leadership and board positions across major international financial institutions, including as Director General (2021-2024) and Alternate Executive Director (2008-2011) at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Deputy Director at AMRO (2016-2019), Senior Counselor at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) (1998-2001), and Vice Chair of Committee Six at the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) (2014-2016).

Mr. Watanabe’s expertise also spans government budgeting, administration, trade negotiations, and emerging and developing economy issues. From 2013 to 2016, he served as Assistant Commissioner and Executive Director at Japan’s Financial Services Agency, and as lead negotiator for financial services under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) at the Cabinet Office, Japan. He is recognized for his leadership in managing large teams and complex institutional portfolios—including overseeing budget, human resources, and management systems at the ADB and responsibility for 10,000 staff at Japan Customs.

Mr. Watanabe holds a Master of Arts in International and Development Economics from Yale University and dual bachelor’s degrees in economics and business/ managerial economics from the University of Tokyo.

Mr Eddie Yue was appointed Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) from 1 October 2019. He began his career as an Administrative Officer in the Hong Kong Government in 1986. He joined the HKMA upon its establishment in 1993 and was promoted to Division Head a year later. He was appointed Executive Director in 2001 and subsequently Deputy Chief Executive in 2007 before taking up his current position.

Mr Yue has participated in numerous areas of the HKMA’s work. During his tenure as Deputy Chief Executive, he steered major policies and initiatives relating to reserves management, research, external affairs and market development. Mr Yue was also actively involved in tackling major financial crises and played an instrumental role in enhancing the Linked Exchange Rate System.

Mr Yue was educated at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Harvard Business School.

Mr. Tao ZHANG has been Chief Representative of the BIS Office of Asia and the Pacific since September 2022. As a member of the BIS senior management, he takes lead in its activities in Asia and the Pacific.

Mr. Zhang has extensive experiences both in international arena and at the national level in China. He served as Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, DC during 2016-2021. Mr. Zhang also held senior positions in China, including Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China, and Chairman of the Supervisory Board at the People’s Insurance Company (Group) of China Limited. Earlier in his career, he had worked as an economist at the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Mr. Zhang has a Ph.D. in International Economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, USA, and a bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua University, China.

Mr. Dong He assumed the role of AMRO’s Chief Economist on June 9, 2025. He is responsible for overseeing the organization’s country and regional surveillance, as well as research activities related to the ASEAN+3 economies.

Prior to this, from October 2014-May 2025, Mr. He served as Deputy Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department at the International Monetary Fund, where he played a leadership role in shaping the Fund’s global financial stability agenda and crafting its strategy on digital money and payments.

Mr. He started his career in 1993 at the World Bank through the Young Professionals Program. He contributed to the Global Economic Prospects report and served as country economist for the Africa region, and the Europe and Central Asia region.

Mr. He joined the IMF in 1998, working in both the Monetary and Exchange Affairs Department, and the Asia and Pacific Department. During this time, he contributed to Article IV consultations with member countries, the Financial Sector Assessment Programs, and technical assistance missions.

From 2004-2014, Mr. He was a staff member of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). He was appointed in 2009 as HKMA’s Executive Director of Research and Director of the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research, providing strategic and technical leadership on monetary stability and market development.

Mr. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Cambridge.

Marzunisham Omar is Deputy Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) overseeing the monetary stability, and digital and technology sectors, as well as the Financial Intelligence and Enforcement Department of BNM. Marzunisham is a member of BNM’s Board of Directors, Monetary Policy Committee, Financial Stability Executive Committee and Reserve Management Committee. He also chairs the National Coordination Committee to Counter Money Laundering.

Marzunisham joined Bank Negara Malaysia in 1993 and holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge. He has 32 years of experience across various functions of central banking, including economic and monetary policy, financial sector regulation and development, financial inclusion and organisational development. From 2015 until 2017, Marzunisham served as Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), representing South East Asia.

Zhu Haibin is responsible for research relating to macroeconomics and financial stability. Mr Zhu holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Management from Peking University, a Master of Arts degree in Economics from the Graduate School of People's Bank of China and a PhD in Economics from Duke University. He has extensive experience in economic research, with expertise in policy research on macroeconomics and financial stability in the Mainland of China and Hong Kong. Prior to joining the HKMA, Mr Zhu was Managing Director, Chief China Economist and Head of Greater China Economic Research at J.P.Morgan, and he also served as a Senior Economist at the Bank for International Settlements.

Mrs. Chantavarn Sucharitakul worked at the Bank of Thailand from 1986-2022 where she assumed several positions, ranging from monetary, fiscal and financial sector development to international financial cooperation. She last served as Assistant Governor of the Financial Markets Group and the Corporate Relations Group. She also served as Alternate Executive Director for the South East Asia Voting Group at the International Monetary Fund from 2006 to 2008, representing ASEAN constituency members.

Mrs. Chantavarn holds a Master’s degree in Economics of Development from Australian National University, Australia, and a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and Administration from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. She attended the Advanced Management Program (AMP179) at Harvard Business School in 2009.

Johanna is a Managing Director, Head of Emerging Market Economics and Chief Asia Economist at Citigroup. Based in Hong Kong since 2000, she recently assumed the role overseeing economic research across Emerging Markets including Emerging Asia, Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa and Latin America. Prior to her appointing, she was the head of Economics Research for Asia-Pacific, covering China, India, Korea, ASEAN, frontier Asian markets, as well as developed economies like Japan and Australia. Previously, Johanna was the Chief Asia Emerging Markets Trading Strategist (Fixed Income, Commodities and Currencies) and the Asia Sovereign Fixed Income Analyst prior to 2009.

Johanna Chua has been a regular participant in the Track II Economic Dialogue of the National Committee on United States-China Relations (NCUSR) and had previously been a private sector member of the Moody’s-Petersen Institute for International Economics (PIIE) Sovereign Risk Panel.

Johanna and her team ranked number #1 in Asia Economics in 4 of the 5 Global Fixed Income Institutional Investor (II) from 2019-2023. Her team ranked #3 in the equity-focused Asia-Pacific II in 2022 and 2021 and runner up in 2020. She has been consistently ranked at the top of various fixed income surveys by The Asset, FinanceAsia and Eleonora (for European investors) for several years throughout her career.

Johanna has a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of the Philippines.

Ms Julia Leung has been Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) since 1 January 2023.

Ms Leung joined the SFC in March 2015 as Executive Director of the Investment Products Division. She became Executive Director of the Intermediaries Division in June 2016 and took on the additional capacity of Deputy CEO in March 2018.

In more than 25 years of public service, Ms Leung has extensive experience in financial regulation, market development and international cooperation. Prior to joining the SFC, Ms Leung was the Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury from August 2008 to December 2013. Before that, she served at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority for 14 years, spending the last eight years as the Executive Director responsible for financial cooperation with Mainland and other international regulators. Currently, she is the Vice President of the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers and a council member of the Treasury Markets Association.

Ms Leung graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and earned a master's degree from Columbia University in the City of New York. In 2014, she authored a book on how Asia has surmounted various financial crises.

As the BIS Economic Adviser, Hyun Song Shin leads the economics work at the BIS and is Head of its Monetary and Economic Department.

Mr Shin has a background in academia. Before coming to the BIS in May 2014, he was the Hughes-Rogers Professor of Economics at Princeton University, having previously held appointments at Oxford University and the London School of Economics. He has been an intellectual leader in the fields of banking, international finance and monetary economics, topics on which he has published widely, both in leading academic and official publications.

One area of recent focus has been in developing the BIS's work agenda on digital innovation and the financial system, laying out the implications for users, financial intermediaries and the central bank. Mr Shin was part of the BIS management team that developed the BIS Innovation Hub, and served as its Interim Head at its launch in 2019.

Mr Shin is a Korean national. In 2010, while on leave from Princeton University, he served as Senior Adviser to the Korean president, taking a leading role in formulating financial stability policy in Korea and developing the agenda for the G20 during Korea's presidency.

Mr Shin is author of numerous publications in the fields of monetary policy, banking, finance and issues related to financial stability.

Daniel Rees was appointed Head of Central Bank Cooperation in July 2025 after serving as Adviser to the General Manager between 2022 and 2025. Prior to this, he worked as Principal Economist in the Macroeconomic Analysis Unit of the Monetary and Economic Department, having joined the BIS in 2019. He has published research on a range of topics related to international macroeconomics, structural change and applied macroeconomic modelling. Before joining the BIS, Daniel worked at the Reserve Bank of Australia, where he was Head of Macroeconomic Modelling. He holds a PhD in economics from MIT.

Zeno Ronald R. Abenoja is the Deputy Governor of the Monetary and Economics Sector (MES). As MES Sector Head, he handles monetary policy formulation, economic research, statistical operations, foreign exchange regulations, international cooperation, and domestic credit operations.

Prior to his appointment as DG, he served as Assistant Governor (AG) of the Monetary Policy Sub-Sector (MPSS). He also previously led the Department of Economic Research (DER) and Economic and Financial Learning Center (EFLC), which shaped his expertise in monetary policy and economic research.

Mr. Abenoja also previously served as the Chief Economic Counselor (Undersecretary) at the Department of Finance (DOF). He oversaw the Office of the Chief Economist which is responsible for formulating the macroeconomic-fiscal framework and recommending the fiscal policies at the DOF. He worked extensively on the formulation of the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework.

He also served as Senior Advisor to the Executive Director for the Southeast Asia Voting Group (SEAVG) at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). During his stint at the IMF-SEAVG he facilitated the approval of the Article IV reviews of the Philippines, Vietnam, and Laos. It was also during his secondment when the IMF reformed its set of lending facilities to address the needs of EMEs and LDCs at the height of the global pandemic.

Alicia García Herrero is the Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis CIB. She is also an independent Board Member of AGEAS insurance group. Alicia also serves as Senior Fellow at the European think-tank BRUEGEL and as a non-resident Senior Follow at the East Asian Institute (EAI) of the National University Singapore (NUS). Alicia is also Adjunct Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Finally, Alicia is and an advisor to the Spanish government on economic affairs, a Member of the Board of the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation (CAPRI), a member of the Advisory Board of the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), an advisor to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s research arm (HKIMR) and a Member of the Council of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation (FUF).

Alicia is very active in international media (such as BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC and CNN) as well as social media (LinkedIn and Twitter). As a recognition, Alicia was included in the TOP Voices in Economy and Finance by LinkedIn in 2017 and #6 Top Social Media Leader by Refinitiv in 2020.