On 18 March 2018, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a letter from its Chairman, Mark Carney, to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors ahead of their meetings in Buenos Aires on 19-20 March.
The letter sets out the FSB’s priorities under the Argentine Presidency, which are designed to reinforce the G20’s objective of strong, sustainable and balanced growth through: (i) vigilant monitoring to identify, assess and address new and emerging risks; (ii) disciplined completion of the G20’s outstanding financial reform priorities; (iii) pivoting to policy evaluation to ensure the reform programme is efficient, coherent and effective; and (iv) optimising how the FSB works in order to maximise its effectiveness.
In terms of monitoring new and merging risks, the FSB has undertaken a review of the financial stability risks posed by the rapid growth of crypto-assets. The FSB’s initial assessment is that crypto-assets do not pose risks to global financial stability at this time. However, this initial assessment could change if crypto-assets were to become significantly more widely used or interconnected with the core of the regulated financial system.
In terms of the G20’s outstanding financial reform priorities, the FSB’s deliverables during the course of the year will include:
- a correspondent banking Action Plan including improving the access of remittance providers to banking services;
- a toolkit for firms and supervisors on the use of governance frameworks to reduce misconduct in the financial sector;
- leverage measures for investment funds to support resilient market-based finance;
- guidance on financial resources available to support central counterparty (CCP) resolution to deliver resilient and resolvable CCPs; and
- a cyber security lexicon to support consistency in the work of the FSB.