RELATED INFORMATION
DATE: 18 July 2018
TIME: 1:30pm – 4:00pm
VENUE: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
TOPIC: What Lessons Learned from Financial Crises of Recent Times
In the past two decades, Asian economies have been hit by two major financial crises, the first was the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 (AFC) and the second was the Western Financial Crisis in 2008 (WFC) which left not just Asia but the economies around the world struggling to recover.
One major difference during the WFC was the greatly reduced role of the previous big player – the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In 1998, Thailand and Indonesia took massive loans from the IMF, a step which many later regretted. The loans had come with conditions which left nations at the mercy of the funders. This experience left ASEAN economies searching for a better regional financial safety net to assist individual countries during times of crises. For example, the creation of the Chiang Mai Initiative, a platform for regional bilateral swaps to include Japan, Korea, and China or ASEAN +3 countries. An independent surveillance unit, called AMRO, was set up under the new Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation (CMIM) to establish an effective system of regional surveillance and conditionality.
Former Hong Kong Monetary Authority official and Undersecretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Julia Leung says that the IMF is outdated and its effectiveness is undermined as it has not kept up its shareholding and governance structures to suit the shift in economic gravity to emerging markets. While she commends the setting up of the CMIM, others contend that the CMIM does not have nearly enough resources to play a significant role if another crisis such as the AFC was to hit the region.
With ASEAN countries also at different stages of development, Thailand Development Research Institute President and former Thai Finance Minister Chalongphob Sussangkarn suggested the bloc should implement a mechanism to address foreign exchange volatility to reduce this gap between countries. He recommends that ASEAN central banks have similar monetary policies, especially in terms of maintaining the range of inflation, to withstand external pressures.
In this roundtable, we discuss what the region needs to do to prepare itself for the next crisis and cushion external pressures.
Discussion Topics
- Reviewing the ASEAN experience of the past two financial crises
- Ensuring a global system of governance suited to a new global digital era
- The reforms needed to ensure financial stability in an increasingly complex global macroeconomic landscape
- Managing international reserves as a means of damping capital movements
- The expansion of international trade and the increasing intricacies of financial networks
- Increasing local currency use to mitigate exchange rate risk
SPEAKERS
David Marsh Chairman and Co-Founder, OMFIF
David Marsh is Chairman and Co-Founder of OMFIF. He is Senior Adviser to asset management company Soditic. Previously, he worked for City merchant bank Robert Fleming, corporate finance boutique Hawkpoint and German management consultancy Droege. Marsh took over the chairmanship from John Plender on 1 January 2018 having been Managing Director since 2014.
Marsh is a Board Member of Henderson Eurotrust and the British Chamber of Commerce in Germany, and visiting Professor at Sheffield University and King’s College London. He is former co-founder, chairman and deputy chairman of the German-British Forum. He was made Commander of the British Empire in 2000 and was awarded the German Order of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz) in 2003.
He started his career at Reuters in 1973 having graduated with a BA in chemistry from The Queen’s College Oxford. Between 1978 and 1995 he worked for the Financial Times in France and Germany, latterly as European Editor in London. Marsh has written six books: Six Days in in September – Black Wednesday, Brexit and the Making of Europe (2017, with William Keegan and Richard Roberts); Europe’s Deadlock: How the Crisis Could Be Solved – And Why It Won’t Happen (2013); The Euro – The Politics of the New Global Currency (2009 – re-released in 2011 as The Battle for the New Global Currency); Germany and Europe – The Crisis of Unity (1994); ‘The Bundesbank – The Bank that Rules Europe’ (1992); and Germany – Rich, Bothered and Divided (1989 – re-released in 1990 as The New Germany.
He is a frequent media commentator in Europe and the US.
Tan Sri Andrew ShengHonorary Advisor, CIMB ASEAN Research Institute Distinguished Fellow, Asia Global Institute, University of Hong Kong Chairman, Khazanah Research Institute (KRI)
Andrew Sheng is Distinguished Fellow of Asia Global Institute, The University of Hong Kong. He is Chief Adviser to China Banking Regulatory Commission, Chairman of Khazanah Research Institute, a Board Member of Khazanah Nasional Berhad and a member of the international advisory councils of China Investment Corporation, China Development Bank, China Securities Regulatory Commission, Securities and Exchange Board of India and Bank Indonesia Institute.
Previously, he was a Chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong and a central banker with Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Bank Negara Malaysia.
He writes regularly on international finance and monetary economics, financial regulation and global governance for Project Syndicate, AsiaNewsNet and leading economic magazines and newspapers in China and Asia. His latest book is “Shadow Banking in China: An Opportunity for Financial Reform,” with Ng Chow Soon (2016, John Wiley).
Dr. Ho Ee Khor Chief Economist, ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO)
Dr. Khor is the Chief Economist of AMRO responsible for overseeing and developing the work on macroeconomic and financial market surveillance on East Asia and on the member economies in the region. He is also a member of the senior management team responsible for setting the strategic direction and management of AMRO.
Prior to joining AMRO, Dr. Khor was a Deputy Director of the Asia and Pacific Department (APD) at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), responsible for overseeing the surveillance work on six ASEAN and twelve Pacific Island countries. Dr Khor started his career as an economist at the IMF in 1981 and had worked on a wide range of economies in the Western Hemisphere and Asia and Pacific departments. He was the IMF Deputy Resident Representative in China from 1991- 1993.
From 2009-2010, Dr. Khor was Head of Economic Development and Chief Economist at the Abu Dhabi Council for Economic Development (ADCED).
Dr. Khor joined the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in July 1996 and was Assistant Managing Director from 2001 to 2009 where he was responsible for economic research, monetary policy, macro-financial surveillance, and international relations.
Dr. Khor obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Economics/Mathematics from the University of Rochester and a Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University.
Frank ScheidigGlobal Head of Senior Executive Banking, DZ BANK
Frank Scheidig, Deputy Chairman of the OMFIF Advisory Board, is Global Head of Senior Executive Banking at DZ BANK in Frankfurt. He has extensive experience in working with public sector institutions and asset managers worldwide.
Previously, Scheidig was Head of Fixed Income International Sales at DZBANK and a member of the Board of Managing Directors at Deutsche Asset Management International, following posts as Managing Director and Global Head of Central Bank Sales at Deutsche Bank.
Prior to this, he worked as a trader for German government bonds at Suedwest-LB and Bayerische Vereinsbank, in Frankfurt.
Between 1993 and 2000, Scheidig worked in fixed income sales at Bayerische Landesbank and held several senior sales positions in global market divisions at Dresdner Bank.
Dr. Hans GenbergExecutive Director of the South East Asian Central Banks (SEACEN) Research and Training Centre
Dr. Hans Genberg joined SEACEN on March 3, 2014 as Adviser in the area of Macroeconomics and Monetary Policy Management (MMPM) on secondment from Bank Negara Malaysia.
Prior to joining SEACEN, Dr. Genberg was Assistant Director at the Independent Evaluation Office of the International Monetary Fund where he led evaluations of International Reserves: IMF Concerns and Country Perspectives and IMF Forecasts: Process, Quality, and Country Perspectives. Between 2005 and 2009 he was Executive Director, Research at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Director of the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research after which he spent one year as Visiting Advisor at the Representative office for Asia and the Pacific of the Bank for International Settlements. Before joining the HKMA he was Professor of international economics at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. A Swedish national, Dr. Genberg holds a Ph.D. degree in Economics from the University of Chicago.
Dr. Genberg has written widely on issues dealing with international finance, monetary economics and macroeconomics. His publications include Asset Prices and Central Bank Policy; Official Reserves and Currency Management in Asia: Myth, reality and the Future; and The Banking Sector in Hong Kong as well as numerous articles in major professional journals such as Econometrica, the Journal of Monetary Economics, Journal of Money Credit and Banking, and the Journal of International Economics.
Stephen Hill Strategic Advisor, World Reserve Trust
Stephen Hill has had a long career in capital markets in London, Tokyo, Bangkok and Hong Kong. Each step in his career has taught him new facets of an industry that he loves. He brings extensive knowledge of market processes, Institutional Investors and corporate analysis. He has had significant involvement in external Investor and Internal corporate relations activities involving the preparation of materials, analysing underlying business activities, working with advisors, communication to board level and the wider capital market participants of investment decisions and general business activities of a broad range of companies and has proven capital raising ability. Specialist roles have included leading credit analysis to assist in the approval of capital expenditures based on financial principles and analysing external business opportunities. Stephen has successfully coordinated parties to facilitate the listing requirements involving the preparation of prospectus for listing Companies on the alternative board of the London Stock Exchange.
Mr. Hill has held increasing senior executive roles in financial sales and corporate finance. He has had intimate involvement in the operations and strategy for a number of relevant businesses to Sīlùbì, including a senior executive role in a significant listed London listed gas producer.
Stephen is a UK national with permanent resident status in Hong Kong with conversational competence in Japanese and German languages. He holds a B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Leicester and completed an AMP diploma from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
CHAIR
Tan Sri Dr. Munir Majid Chairman, CIMB ASEAN Research Institute President, ASEAN Business Club
Tan Sri Dr. Munir is currently Chairman of CIMB ASEAN Research Institute, of Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad, of the Financial Services Professional Board, of ASEAN Business Advisory Council, Malaysia, as well as President of the ASEAN Business Club. He also sits on the board of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia and on the Financial Services Talent Council of Bank Negara Malaysia.
He has an extensive experience and is well known in the Malaysian corporate world. He had been the Group Editor of the New Straits Times, first executive chairman of CIMB and founding chairman of the Malaysian Securities Commission. After stepping down from the Securities Commission, he became Independent Non-Executive Director of Telekom Malaysia Berhad, Chairman of Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad and Non-Executive Chairman of Malaysian Airline System Berhad. He was Founder President of the Kuala Lumpur Business Club, established in 2003 and is a member of the Court of Fellows of the Malaysian Institute of Management.
Tan Sri Dr. Munir obtained a B.Sc (Econ) and Ph.D in International Relations from the London School of Economic and Political Science (LSE) in 1971 and 1978. He is an Honorary Fellow of LSE and continues the long association with his alma mater as Visiting Senior Fellow at the Centre of International Affairs, Diplomacy and Strategy. Tan Sri Dr. Munir is an associate of Southeast Asia Centre (SEAC) at LSE.