Executives’ Meeting of East Asia Pacific Central Banks (EMEAP)

APEC

EMEAP, the Executives' Meeting of East Asia-Pacific Central Banks was launched in 1991 as a forum for central banks in the East Asia and Pacific region to strengthen the cooperative relationship among its members.  EMEAP comprises the central banks and monetary authorities of eleven economies: Reserve Bank of Australia, People's Bank of China, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Bank Indonesia, Bank of Japan, The Bank of Korea, Bank Negara Malaysia, Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Monetary Authority of Singapore, and Bank of Thailand.

Since its establishment, EMEAP activities have evolved gradually but steadily. It is now a three-tiered forum, comprising Governors', Deputies' and Working Group Meetings.

EMEAP Governors' Meetings have been held on an annual basis since 1996, not only to exchange ideas and information on recent economic and financial developments in the region, but also to act as the highest decision-making body of policies regarding EMEAP activities. Since 2004, informal Governors' meetings have additionally been held.

EMEAP Deputies' Meetings, the core forum of EMEAP since its inception, are held twice a year. Deputies' Meetings play an important role in ensuring the continuity of EMEAP activities and closely follow the quickly changing economic and financial movements in the region. The Meetings also monitor the activities and provide guidance to the Working Groups.

The EMEAP Monetary and Financial Stability Committee (MFSC) was established in 2007 to strengthen regional financial cooperation by enhancing macro-monitoring and crisis management mechanism. The committee discusses recent economic and financial developments based on its "Macro-Monitoring Report" which gathers macroeconomic and financial information from member countries. The Committee meets twice a year, back-to-back with the Deputies' Meetings.

Working Groups and Directors' Meetings were established to address issues concerning the primary functions of central banks:  

1. The Working Group on Financial Markets (WGFM) monitors developments and conducts studies in foreign exchange and financial markets as well as reserve management. Its prominent projects in recent years included the establishment of the US dollar-denominated "Asian Bond Fund 1" or ABF1 and the local currency-denominated "Asian Bond Fund 2" or ABF2, both of which aim to promote regional bond markets development. 

2. The Working Group on Banking Supervision (WGBS) studies supervisory issues that are of interest to central banks and share members' experiences in implementation of new regulatory frameworks, in particular Basel lII. Members in this working group comprise not only central banks, but supervisory agencies of some EMEAP countries are also included, namely the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the China Banking Regulatory Commission, Japan's Financial Services Agency, Korea's Financial Supervisory Service, and Indonesia Financial Services Authority (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan : OJK). Recently, the WGBS has also been active in representing the interests of the region through its participation in the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), which sets best practices on banking supervision.

3. The Working Group on Payment and Settlement Systems (WGPSS) oversees developments in domestic and cross-border payment and settlement systems as well as domestic business continuity/crisis management arrangements. The WGPSS published a number of documents including "EMEAP Red Book", a comprehensive survey of member countries' payment and settlement systems.   

4. The IT Directors' Meeting (ITDM) was established in 2001 to study IT-related matters and its application to member central banks.

 

  Relevant source http://www.emeap.org

International Cooperation Framework

Additional Information
International Financial Organization Team, International Department, Corporate Relations Group

E-mail: IND-InterFinOrg@bot.or.th