The 1st Joint Regional Financing Arrangement (RFA) Research Seminar

Location: Fullerton Hotel, Singapore

The inaugural Joint Regional Financing Arrangement (RFA) Research Seminar co-organized by the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), and the Fondo Latinoamericano de Reservas (FLAR), will be held on September 7, 2017 in Singapore. The seminar is an annual event aiming at bringing academics and institutions together to discuss key issues pertaining to global and regional financial stability.

AMRO Director junhong Chang and ESM Managing Director Klaus Regling will deliver the opening remarks and keynote speech, respectively. The full-day event will comprise three sessions. The first session, led by AMRO Chief Economist Hoe Ee Khor will focus on the methodology, current practices and challenges pertaining to economic surveillance. Chaired by ESM Chief Economist Rolf Strauch, the second session will discuss lessons learned from the past for future crisis prevention. The last session, led FLAR Director of Economic Studies Carlos Giraldo, will discuss crisis management with a focus on liquidity provision and moral hazard concerns.

Among the discussants and speakers will be renowned academics and experts, representatives from international, regional and national organizations, and the private sector.

The event is by invitation only.

Program

Time
Program

8:30 am to 9:00 am

Registration

9:00 am to 9:05 am

Opening Remarks
Junhong Chang, Director, AMRO

9:05 am to 9:15 am

Keynote Speech
Klaus Regling, Managing Director, ESM

Session 1: Economic Surveillance – Methodology, Current Practices, and Challenges
Economic surveillance is key to identify main signals that can potentially lead to a crisis. RFAs are keen to strengthen their capacity of economic surveillance with the contribution from academics. This session will focus on the methodology, current practices and challenges pertaining to economic surveillance, with a particular interest in tools on sovereign vulnerability assessment, early warning signals, current account sustainability as well as fiscal sustainability.

Chair: Hoe Ee Khor, Chief Economist, AMRO

Presenters:

Hyun Min Jung, Korea Centre for International Finance

Murtaza Syed, Deputy Division Chief of Advanced Economies and Multilateral Issues, IMF

Discussants:

Akira Ariyoshi, Advisory Panel Member, AMRO

Kyung Wook Hur, Advisory Panel Member, AMRO

Juan Rojas, Head of Economic and Market Analysis, ESM

Servaas Deroose, Deputy Director General, DG ECFIN, European Commission

Q&A

11:15 am to 11:45 am

Photo Session and Coffee Break

11:30 am to 1:45 pm

Session 2: Lessons Learned from the Past for Future Crisis Prevention
A number of regions, including East Asia, Latin America and Europe, have gone through crises of different types in the past. This session will contribute to the understanding of the different types of crises (e.g. currency crisis, bank runs, sovereign debt crises, etc.), and how to deal with them. Different RFAs are in fact set up to deal with different crisis types; this also explains the variety of instruments available at different RFAs. The session will also address ways to deal with spillovers across countries and regions and from global financial markets.

Chair: Rolf Strauch, Member of Management Board and Chief Economist, ESM

Presenters:

Giancarlo Corsetti, Cambridge University

Joshua Aizenman, University of Southern California

Discussants:

Bandid Nijathaworn, Advisory Panel Member, AMRO

He Fan, Peking University, HSBC School

Sergey Ulatov, Director for Coordination of Activities, Eurasian Development Bank

Antoine Chery, Head of Economic Service for ASEAN Countries, French Embassy in Singapore

Q&A

1:45 pm to 2:45 pm

Lunch

2:45 pm to 4:45 pm

Session 3: Crisis Management – Liquidity Provision vs. Moral Hazard Concerns
In times of crises, swift reaction for crisis resolution is important. At the same time, to prevent facility shopping and to contain moral hazard risks also matter. This session will discuss how to address these concerns, using conditionality or other instruments.

Chair: Carlos Giraldo, Director, Economic Studies, FLAR

Presenters:

Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics

Randall Henning, American University

Discussants:

Maria Socorro Gochoco-Bautista, Advisory Panel Member, AMRO

Beatrice Weder di Mauro, Distinguished Fellow in Residence, Emerging Markets Institute, INSEAD

Lucas ter Braak, Deputy Head of Division, EU Institutions & Fora Division, ECB

Gong Cheng, Senior Economist, ESM

Q&A

4:45 pm to 4:50 pm

Closing Remarks
Carlos Giraldo, Economic Studies Director, FLAR

Speakers

Junhong Chang

Director, AMRO

Klaus Regling

Managing Director, ESM

Hyun Min Jung

Korea Centre for International Finance

Murtaza Syed

Deputy Division Chief of Advanced Economies and Multilateral Issues, IMF

Akira Ariyoshi

Advisory Panel Member, AMRO

Kyung Wook Hur

Advisory Panel Member, AMRO

Juan Rojas

Head of Economic and Market Analysis, ESM

Servaas Deroose

Deputy Director General, DG ECFIN, European Commission

Giancarlo Corsetti

Cambridge University

Joshua Aizenman

University of Southern California

Bandid Nijathaworn

Advisory Panel Member, AMRO

He Fan

Peking University, HSBC School

Sergey Ulatov

Director for Coordination of Activities, Eurasian Development Bank

Antoine Chery

Head of Economic Service for ASEAN Countries, French Embassy in Singapore

Jeromin Zettelmeyer

Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics

Randall Henning

American University

Maria Socorro Gochoco-Bautista

Advisory Panel Member, AMRO

Beatrice Weder di Mauro

Distinguished Fellow in Residence, Emerging Markets Institute, INSEAD

Lucas ter Braak

Deputy Head of Division, EU Institutions & Fora Division, ECB

Gong Cheng

Senior Economist, ESM

Carlos Giraldo

Economic Studies Director, FLAR

Photos