Research and analysis:

b. research and presentations

Major REGULATORS:

Briefly present the following organizations. (see PRESENTATIONS cHECKLIST FOR GUIDANCE)

1. IMF

2. WORLD BANK

3. BASEL COMMITTEE

4. Financial Stability Forum

5. IASB and IFRS

6. FATF

7. IOSCO

8. BIS

9. ECB

10. OECD

11. EBRD

12. FASB and GAPP

Listen to the presentations and fill this table:

Organization	Established	Field	Mission	Functions

Conclude by discussing, in light of the reading material above, of the role and complementarity of various international financial organizations and the importance of their activities for Russian and global development. (*Write a 200-word essay on the subject).

C. CASE STUDY:

IMF: STRATEGIC AGENDA

1. Watch the IMF Video Inside Money: Cooperative Solutions from the IMF http://www.imf.org/external/mmedia/index.asp and talk about the main functions of the IMF.

2. Summarize Reza Moghadam’s views on IMF’s agenda:

1. Briefly formulate the main points.

2. Write out key words.

3. Produce a concise summary and add your own evaluation of the agenda.

3. Summarize President Vladimir Putin’s proposals for IMF activities in the forthcoming period:

1. Briefly formulate the main ideas in English.

2. Write out key words in English.

3. Produce a concise summary of the proposals.

4. Compare the original version of the IMF’s mission and functions and the two sets of proposals.

5. Speak on relevance of IMF reforms for Russia.

Reza Moghadam, Director of the Strategy, Policy and Review Department of the IMF, gives an overview of what’s high on the Fund’s agenda and how the Fund will be working with the G-20 in the months ahead.

Q1. Could you give us an outline of the Fund’s priorities in the next six months?

Our immediate priority is to help our members overcome this crisis—the most serious economic dislocation since the Great Depression. And while its impact has varied across countries, no region has been immune from its effects. So finding a path out of the crisis is both complicated and our top priority.

Understanding the causes of the crisis and identifying key lessons for policy makers will be at the core of the Fund’s work in the next six months, as will efforts to ensure that the Fund’s own toolkit and modalities can meet the tasks at hand. These efforts will include a paper on “lessons” from the crisis, work on early warning systems, a review of Fund facilities, including new modalities for the implementation of conditionality, consideration of ways to better integrate financial sector analyses into surveillance and, importantly given their particular vulnerabilities, work on assessing the impact of the crisis on low-income countries.

A third area of work is to explore ways to reform the current financial architecture. This is an issue that is being discussed at the highest political levels in our membership, and we will be doing our bit—along with others—to build a stronger global system. The Fund is uniquely placed to be a key player in these discussions. Why? Because we have a near-universal membership, we have the macro-financial expertise that is needed, and we have the ability to deliver.

At the same time we must not forget about our longer-term strategy, in particular our commitment to further advance the surveillance priorities endorsed by the IMFC in October and to continue modernizing the Fund—both our broader governance structure and our internal processes. The decision to adopt a new review process is one important example of this effort.

Q2. How does the G-20 Action Plan fit into this agenda?

There is a significant amount of commonality between the strategy outlined above and the G-20 Action Plan. Both are geared towards finding a way out of the crisis, identifying lessons learnt, and exploring dimensions of the new international financial architecture.

Q3. Can you tell us something about the further G-20 work? What role will the Fund play?

To take forward the Action Plan that was agreed at the November 15 summit, the G-20 is working on a number of issues: i) sound regulation and strengthening transparency—with a focus on accounting and disclosure, prudential oversight and risk management; ii) international cooperation and promoting integrity in financial markets—with a focus on regulation and oversight of international institutions and financial markets and cross border flows; iii) reform of the IMF—with a focus on the role, governance and resource requirements of the Fund. It will also consider the Fund’s instruments and surveillance activities; and iv) reform of the World Bank and MDBs—which will consider similar issues as its Fund counterpart. (Published on the IMF website on December 22, 2008; slightly abridged)