3rd ASEAN+3 Finance Think-tank Network (AFTN) Seminar

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 administration from the University of Tokyo.

Hidemi Kimura has been the President of the Policy Research Institute of the Ministry of Finance since July 2025. Prior to the current position, she served as Commissioner of the Osaka Regional Taxation Bureau, National Tax Agency. Her career includes serving as Director of the Treasury Division, Financial Bureau; Director of the Accounts Division, Minister’s Secretariat; and Deputy Commissioner of the National Tax Agency. She also worked at Corporate Resource Management unit of the World Bank. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Tokyo and an MBA from Duke University. She has published several articles in leading journals such as the World Development and the Journal of International Development.

Bambang Brodjonegoro, an Indonesian national, is the Dean and CEO of the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI). Before joining ADBI in April 2025 he was Special Advisor to the President of the Republic of Indonesia for Economic Affairs and National Development. He served the Government of Indonesia in several senior leadership roles from 2011. He was Indonesia’s Minister of Finance (2014–2016), Minister of National Development Planning (2016–2019), and Minister of Research and Technology (2019-2021). Besides government and academic, he also served as Director General of Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) (2009-2010).

Dean Brodjonegoro holds a doctorate and master's degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a bachelor's degree in economics from the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Indonesia, where he was full Professor and serving as Dean during 2005-2009.

Takehiko NAKAO is currently Adviser, Sumitomo Corporation and Chairman, Center for International Economy and Strategy. He teaches as Visiting Professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) and Graduate School of Public Policy, the University of Tokyo. From April 2013 to January 2020, He served as President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). He was Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs at the MOF Japan between 2011 and 2013. Mr. Nakao holds a BA degree in Economics from the University of Tokyo (1978) and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California-Berkeley (1982).

Fukunari Kimura received his Bachelor of Laws from the Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo in 1982 and Ph.D. from the Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1991. He worked for the Department of Economics, State University of New York at Albany as Assistant Professor in 1991-1994, the Faculty of Economics, Keio University as Associate Professor in 1994-2000 and Professor in 2000-2024, and Chief Economist, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) located in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2008-2024. Since April 2024, he has been Professor Emeritus and Senior Professor, Keio University, President, IDE-JETRO, and Senior Research Fellow, ERIA. He majors in international trade and development economics. His research topics include international production networks, economic integration and the World Trade Organization, and the digital economy in East Asia.

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.

Before joining ADBI, he worked at the Ministry of Finance of Japan in various capacities, most recently as Chief Economist of the Policy Research Institute. Prior to that he worked for the International Bureau of the Ministry of Finance of Japan, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Consulate-General of Japan in Shanghai, and the Singapore Representative Office of Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

He holds an MA in diplomatic studies from the University of Westminster in the United Kingdom and a BA in law from Waseda University in Tokyo.

Sayuri Shirai is currently a professor of economics under Keio University’s faculty of policy management. She is also an advisor to both the Nomura Research Center for Sustainability and the Nissin Oillio Group.

From 2020-2021, she was a senior advisor to London-based EOS at Federated Hermes, which provides environmental, social, and governance (ESG)-related stewardship services on firms and public policy. Prior to that, she was an ADBI visiting fellow from 2016-2020, a member of the Policy Board of the Bank of Japan from 2011-2016, taught at Sciences Po in Paris from 2007–2008, and served as an economist at the International Monetary Fund from 1993-1998.

She has published extensively on topics such as central bank digital currency, monetary policy, global finance, and ESG investment. She is also a contributing writer to the Japan Times and a frequent Japanese and international media commentator on Japan’s economy and global monetary policies.

She holds a PhD in economics from Columbia University.

Dr. Young Do Kim is a Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Institute of Finance (KIF). Throughout his career, he has gained extensive experience across both the public and private sectors. He previously served as a Senior Advisor to the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and has held various outside directorships at major institutions, including the Korea Exchange (KRX) and the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC), as well as several private companies. He currently serves as an outside director at the Korea Housing Corporation. In addition to his primary roles, Dr. Kim has actively contributed to the development of Korea’s financial industry through his participation in numerous committees and academic societies related to financial systems and policies. His research focuses on economic and institutional issues in banking, capital markets, and the broader financial industry. He has authored and co-authored a number of books, academic papers, and policy reports on financial markets and the financial sector. He has also taught at Yonsei University as an Adjunct Professor. Dr. Kim holds a Master’s degree in Finance from Korea University and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, San Diego.

Jing Lian is a Senior Economist at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, working in the Macroprudential Surveillance Department within the Economic Policy Group. His research and modelling work in applied macro-finance and economics supports the department's surveillance of global and domestic financial stability issues.

Inhwan So is an Assistant Professor in the School of Economics at Hongik University. His primary research interests include monetary policy, uncertainty, asset pricing, and their interactions in the international dimension.

Before joining Hongik University, he served as a senior economist (or team head) at the Bank of Korea, contributing to research and policy works on key monetary policy and international finance issues. He also served as a delegate for G20 international financial architecture (IFA) working group, and actively engaged in international cooperation affairs related to BIS, IMF, SEACEN, and other central banks. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Washington.

Shui Tang is a Senior Economist in the Research Department of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). His primary research focus is on analysing the implications of equity and bond markets for financial stability, and his work has been published in academic journals in finance and economics. He holds a Master of Science degree in Economics from the University of Hong Kong.

Dr. Jee Won Park is an Associate Research Fellow in the International Macroeconomics and Finance Department at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP). He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Washington and both an M.A. and B.A. from Seoul National University. His research spans international finance and monetary and fiscal policy, with recent work addressing exchange rate dynamics, capital flows, stablecoins and digital finance, and public debt sustainability. Before joining KIEP, Dr. Park spent over fourteen years at the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Korea, rising from Deputy Director to Senior Deputy Director. During his tenure, he gained extensive practical experience in economic analysis, economic policy implementation, and international development and cooperation.

Weining Xin is an Economist in the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department, working on India. He previously worked on Vietnam and Lao People's Democratic Republic, Bahrain and macroeconomic issues in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, IMF program on Mali, and contributed to the IMF’s risk assessment work. His work covers issues on international trade, geoeconomic fragmentation, industrial policy, artificial intelligence, international finance, and machine learning applications in economics. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Southern California.

Sekar Utami Setiastuti is an Economist at Macro-Financial Research Group, ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO). She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from North Carolina State University.

Her research focuses on fiscal, monetary, and macroprudential policies in small open economies, with particular expertise in DSGE modelling and Bayesian macroeconometrics. Prior to joining AMRO, she was an Assistant Professor at Universitas Gadjah Mada, where she also served as Undergraduate Program Director. She has worked closely with policymakers, including as a visiting researcher for Bank Indonesia, a social protection policy expert for the Government of Indonesia, and as a research fellow at AMRO.

Her research has been published in journals such as the Journal of Asian Economics, Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, and Economic Analysis and Policy, covering topics including bank risk-taking, macroprudential policy, and inflation dynamics.

Huanhuan Zheng is a scholar of sovereign financial governance at City University of Hong Kong. Her research studies how governments borrow, manage, and govern sovereign debt in a changing global order—from dollar dominance and sovereign debt sustainability to climate finance and fiscal redistribution.

Dr Dina Chhorn is the Centre Director of Development Economics and Trade at the Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI). Prior to this role, he worked as an economic analyst at France Médias Monde in Paris, France. He was the Economist accredited by the European Commission as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the 7th Lindau Meeting for the Laureates of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel in Germany. He conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland and obtained his PhD in Economics from the University of Bordeaux in France, where he also taught courses in Econometrics and Statistics.

He has contributed to policy dialogues and research conferences. His research has been published in The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Asian Development Review, Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Review of Development Economics, and Open Research Europe.

Wei Ye is a Ph.D. candidate in Economics at Fordham University, specializing in digital assets and financial stability. His broader research covers CBDC design for cross-border payments, Basel capital framework reform for banks' DeFi exposures, stablecoin monoculture and cross-chain contagion risks, agentic AI payment systems, and the implications of tokenization for Hong Kong's monetary system under its Linked Exchange Rate regime. He previously received his master's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Van Ha Nguyen is a member of the academic staff at Foreign Trade University (FTU), where she has been teaching since 2006. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Newcastle, Australia. Her teaching portfolio includes international trade finance, international financial management, and international finance. Her research interests include sustainable finance, corporate finance, corporate governance, and financial market efficiency. At the 3rd AFTN seminar, she presents research on the impact of fintech development on firms’ cost of equity capital, suggesting that fintech development functions as a component of financial infrastructure that enhances capital market efficiency by reducing informational frictions and risk premia.

Ngoc Mai Nguyen, LL.M., is a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Banking Academy of Vietnam. Her research focuses on financial and banking regulation, particularly the legal framework for digital assets, drawing on both academic research and emerging regulatory developments. Her doctoral research examines the legal framework governing digital assets in Vietnam in the current context, with a focus on regulatory challenges and policy development in the digital economy. At the 3rd ASEAN+3 Finance Think-tank Network (AFTN) Seminar in Japan, Ms. Mai will present on “Stablecoins and Regulatory Fragmentation Risks to Financial Stability in ASEAN+3 under Geopolitical Stress,” offering insights into legal and regulatory responses to emerging risks in the regional financial system.

Jahen F. Rezki is Vice Director of Research at the Institute for Economic and Social Research and Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia. Jahen is also Editor-in-Chief of Economics and Finance in Indonesia, invited researcher at JPAL-SEA, and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Economic Transition Expertise at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His work has been published and forthcoming in peer-reviewed academic journals, including European Economic Review, Economics of Governance, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Telecommunications Policy.