Speakers Biographies

 

Panelists and presenters are listed in sequential order based on the agenda.

 

 Welcome Address

Enrique V. Iglesias is President of the Inter-American Development Bank, having been re-elected for a new five-year term, beginning in April 1998. Mr. Iglesias became Managing Director for the Unión de Bancos del Uruguay in 1954, and was president of the Uruguayan Central Bank from 1966 to 1968. He served as executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (1972-1985), and as Uruguay's Foreign Minister (1985/1988). In addition, Mr. Iglesias was professor of Economic Development at Uruguay's University of the Republic and Director of its Institute of Economy.

Toru Kodaki has been the Executive Director for Croatia, Japan, Portugal, Slovenia, and the U.K. at the Inter-American Development Bank since 1998. He joined the Japan Ministry of Finance in 1972, and has since held numerous positions in the ministry, including Director of the National Property Coordination Division, Director of the First National Property Division, and Director of the National Property Examination Division at the Finance Bureau; Special Officer for Research and Planning at the Banking Bureau Inspection Department Examination Division; and both Deputy Director of the Research Division and Deputy Director of the Foreign Exchange and Money Market Division at the International Finance Bureau. He has also served as Senior Economist at the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Senior Research Fellow at the International Institute for Global Peace. Mr. Kodaki was Second Secretary at the Embassies of Japan in the United States of America and in the Republic of Cote d' Ivoire. Mr. Kodaki received a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Tokyo and also attended the University of Cambridge.

 

Session 1: Global Surroundings. Japan's Banking Crisis. Implications for the World and Latin America and the Caribbean

Makoto Utsumi is President of the Japan Center for International Finance (JCIF), one of the foremost research institutions in Japan. After graduating from the University of Tokyo with a Bachelor of Law degree, Mr. Utsumi joined the Ministry of Finance in 1957. He was Director General of the International Finance Bureau from 1986 to 1989, Vice Minister of Finance from 1989 to 1991, and has represented the Japanese government in various international negotiations, including G7 meetings and meetings regarding the Latin American debt problem in the mid-1980s. In 1992, he became a professor at Keio University, where he specializes in international finance and tax systems. Currently President of the JCIF, Mr. Utsumi is well-informed and has expertise in the various issues of global financial markets. In 1989, The International Economy magazine named him "Policy Maker of the Year."

 

Session 2: Structural Problems and Causes

Satsuki Katayama has been Director of the Policy Evaluation Office of the Japan Ministry of Finance since June 2000. In the mid-1990s, she was appointed Director of the Banking Bureau Housing Loan Administration Corporation and as Director of Debts and Assets Liquidation Office within the Banking Bureau. She also participated in formulating the Financial Reconstruction Scheme when Japan faced its serious financial crisis; and established a national property securitization scheme in 1999 as the Director of Privatized Share Sales at the Financial Bureau National Property Co-ordination Division. Ms. Katayama has served in various key positions in the financial sector under the auspices of the Japan Ministry of Finance, including Director of the Kaida Tax Office, Deputy Director of the Development Policy Division and of the Development Institutions Division of the International Finance Bureau, Deputy Budget Examiner of the Budget Bureau, and Deputy Commissioner at the Yokohama Custom-House. Ms. Katayama joined Ministry of Finance after receiving a Bachelor of Law at University of Tokyo in 1982 and has CSE from Ecole National d'Administration. She is the author of "What is the SPC Law?" (Nikkei BP, 1998).

Jacques Trigo Loubière has a master's degree in economics from Sorbonne University in Paris, where he is also a doctoral candidate. His studies have specialized in the area of IMF financial policy analysis. From 1995 to March 2001, Trigo served as Bolivia's Superintendent of Banks and Financial Entities. During his tenure, he faced one of the worst financial crises in the past two decades. As a result, he designed and implemented an intervention system and orderly exit of banks with problems. He also reformed the Bolivian financial system, issuing prudency legislation in accordance with the Basel principals, and modernized supervisory procedures. He established special legislation for micro-financial entities and implemented supervisory methods that allowed the industry to grow significantly during the past five years as well. Prior to 1995, Trigo also worked intermittently at the Inter-American Development Bank for over a decade. His positions at the IDB included Executive Director, Country Economist Division Chief, and Principal Economist. At the IDB, Trigo worked on policies and strategies for economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Trigo served the Bolivian government in numerous instances. He has held the positions of President and General Manager of the Bolivian Central Bank, Director of the Public Sector Modernization Project (SAFCO), Financial Manager of the Bolivian Mining Corporation (COMIBOL), General Director of Economic Policies in the Ministry of Finance, and Advisor to the Planing Ministry. Mr. Trigo is currently an international consultant and Senior Fellow for Policy at ACCION International.

Barry Hager is President of Hager Associates, a legal and consulting firm founded in 1990, specializing in international finance, trade, and administrative law. Hager advises for-profit and non-profit organizations on U.S. legal and legislative developments that affect their interests. Prior to founding Hager Associates, he worked for Congress for seven years, including service as Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the House Banking Subcommittee on International Development and Finance. He was responsible for all aspects of U.S. participation in and contribution to the World Bank and other multilateral development banks, was the principal staff author of 1988 legislation responding to the Latin American debt crisis, and advised Members regarding IMF quota increases, World Bank capital increases, Ex-Im Bank lending, exchange rate policy, and related international financial issues. He has advised Congressional delegations to Bank/Fund annual meetings in Seoul, Berlin, and Washington, and regional bank meetings in Harare, Zimbabwe; Caracas, Venezuela; and San Jose, Costa Rica, as well as fact-finding trips on trade and finance issues to Canada, Malaysia, and Japan. In 1987, he studied European banking and foreign aid policies under the European Union's Visitor's Program. Mr. Hager is the author of Limiting Risks and Sharing Losses in the Globalized Capital Market; The Rule of Law: A Lexicon for Policy Makers; and numerous articles and periodical publications. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of North Carolina and a diplomate of the Sorbonne and the Universite de Lyon, France.

Edgardo Demaestri is a Senior Financial Economist in the Infrastructure and Financial Markets Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). He leads technical activities and provides advisory services on issues related to financial intermediation, capital markets, and financial sector development. Prior to joining the IDB, he worked for the International Monetary Fund, as a Technical Assistant to the Executive Director (1987-1990), and for the Central Bank of Argentina, as Principal Research Economist, Head of the Public Finance Department, and Deputy Manager of Monetary Programming (1982-1987). He was also a professor of Monetary and Banking Economics and Econometrics at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina; Catholic University of Argentina; and the Social and Economic Development Institute, Argentina. He has participated in numerous seminars and conferences on monetary economics and the financial sector in Latin America and the United States. He has a master's degree in Monetary and Banking Economics from the Catholic University of Argentina and a Licentiate in Economics from the University of Buenos Aires.

William A. Ryback is the Senior Officer responsible for the oversight of Supervision Operations and Technical Assistance for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. He coordinates the System's examination and supervision of the bank holding companies, large complex banking organizations, regional and community banks, and foreign banking organizations. His responsibilities also include managing the Federal Reserve's technical assistance program in bank supervision and coordination of training with multilateral institutions including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and Financial Stability Institute of the BIS. Formerly, Mr. Ryback was responsible for implementation of the enhanced oversight program for foreign banking operations in the U.S. Mr. Ryback was the Board of Governor's representative on the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) from 1986 to 1994 and is active in many multinational and bilateral initiatives aimed at strengthening supervision of internationally active banks and enhancing communication between supervisors. He represents the United States on the Core Principals Liaison Group and the Federal Reserve on the Cross-Border Banking Working Group. Prior to joining the Board in March 1986, Mr. Ryback held various positions at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, his last position being Director of Multinational and Regional Bank Policy. Mr. Ryback holds a B.S. degree in finance from Seton Hall University.

 

Working Lunch

Agustín Carstens Carstens received a Ph.D. in Economics from The University of Chicago in 1985 and his doctoral thesis obtained the Banamex National Economics Award in 1987. He received a B.A. in Economics (Honorary Mention) from ITAM in Mexico in 1982, where his thesis obtained the Tlacaelel Award from Consultores Internacionales in 1983, and second place of the Banamex National Economics Award, BA level, in 1983. Mr. Carstens has served as Deputy Minister of Finance and Public Credit at the Mexican Ministry of Finance since December 2000, and was Executive Director (Member of the Executive Directory) at the International Monetary Fund from July 1999 to October 2000. He has also held numerous positions at Banco de Mexico. At Manco de Mexico, Mr. Carstens was General Director of Economic Research from April 1994 to June 1999, Director - Advisor for the Governor from June 1993 to March 1994, Treasurer from June 1991 to May 1993, and International Treasurer from May 1989 to May 1991. He held several other positions within the Banco de Mexico International Division from September 1980 to April 1989. Mr. Carstens was an instructor at The University of Chicago from 1984 to 1985, and taught at ITAM from 1986 to 1989. Mr. Carstens has hosted conferences at the following places: Department of Treasury, United States; Office of the Commonwealth, United Kingdom; BIS; IMF; World Bank; IDB; Ministry of Finance, Netherlands; Federal Reserve Banks of New York, Dallas, San Francisco and Boston; Central Banks of Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia; OECD; Salomon Brothers; Goldman Sachs; J.P. Morgan; Harvard, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Duke, Chicago, and New York University; and the ITAM American Economic Association Meetings. He has published articles in the following journals: Columbia Journal of World Business; American Economic Review; Journal of Asian Economics; Journal of International Finance; ICE Economic Notebooks (Spain); Gaceta de Economía from ITAM; and Latin America Journal of Economics.

 

Session 3: Policy Actions

Yoshio Okubo is Deputy Commissioner for International Affairs at the Financial Services Agency of Japan. Mr. Okubo joined Japan's Ministry of Finance in 1974 after graduating from the University of Tokyo, and has since been appointed to various positions in the international field at both the Japanese Ministry of Finance and international organizations. At the International Monetary Fund (IMF) he served as Assistant and Advisor to the Executive Director for Japan in the early 1980s, and as Advisor of both Policy Development and of the Review Department in the early 1990s. He also worked as Chairman of the Committee on Trade in Financial Services of the World Trade Organization while he served as Counselor and Minister of the Japan Mission to Geneva in 1997 and 1998, and as Deputy Vice Minister of International Affairs at the Japan Ministry of Finance. He has been at his present position since July 2000, when the Financial Services Agency separated from the Ministry of Finance.

Ruth de Krivoy is President of Síntesis Financiera, a financial consulting firm in Caracas, Venezuela. Former positions include: President of the Central Bank of Venezuela (1992-1994); member of Venezuelan official commissions on State Reform, Foreign Public Sector Debt Refinancing and Fiscal Reform; Chairperson, Venezuelan Presidential Commission on Industrial Competitiveness; member of numerous Venezuelan official and private sector international missions; and Professor and Chair, Department of Monetary Theory and Policy, Faculty of Economics, Central University of Venezuela. Ruth de Krivoy is currently Advisor to the Financial Stability Institute, BIS; Member, Board of Directors, Toronto International Center for Leadership in Financial Supervision; and Chairperson, Latin American Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee. She is also a lecturer on monetary policy and financial topics. Ruth de Krivoy has authored papers on monetary and financial topics, and wrote the book Collapse: The Venezuelan Banking Crisis of 1994, published by The Group of Thirty in Washington, D.C.

Tereza Cristina Grossi Togni is Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Brazil, where she has been responsible for supervision since April 2000. Ms. Grossi Togni graduated in Accounting and Business Administration at the Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais in Brazil. She has worked for steelworking and mining companies, and for the Arthur Andersen accounting firm. In 1984, she joined to the Central Bank of Brazil. Since then, she has attended a series of specialized courses in banking supervision, including: the International Banking Supervisory Course, organized by the BIS; Seminar for Senior Bank Supervisors from Emerging Economies, organized by the World Bank and U.S. Federal Reserve, and the Seminar on Consolidated Supervision of Financial Conglomerates, organized by the BIS and The Toronto Centre. Her experience at the Banco Central of Brazil includes the positions of Banking Examiner and Supervisor, Senior Advisor, Deputy Head, and Head of the Department of Supervision and Inspections. She had also acted as instructor in several training courses organized by the Central Bank in the areas of fixed-income securities, credit operations and the structure of the Brazilian financial system. In addition, she has attended the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision Core Principles Liaison Group and Working Group on Capital meetings, organized by the BIS.

Charles Collyns is Senior Advisor in the Asia and Pacific Department, where he has overall responsibility for the IMF's work on Japan. During his career in the IMF, he has worked on a variety of developing and industrial country assignments, and on debt and international capital markets issues. He holds a doctorate from Oxford University.

Eduardo Lora is the Principal Advisor of the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank. He holds an M.S. in Economics from the London School of Economics. He has been Associate Member of Saint Anthony's College of Oxford University, Editor of Coyuntura Economica, and Executive Director of Fedesarrollo, Colombia's leading policy research institution. Mr. Lora's numerous publications include an economic statistics textbook, which has been reprinted more than 10 times, and an introductory textbook on the Colombian economy, which is now in its third edition. His regular columns in newspapers and economic magazines in Colombia reach a wide audience well beyond academic circles. In recognition of his contributions, on its hundredth anniversary, the London School of Economics named him as "Distinguished Alumnus." Since joining the Inter-American Development Bank in 1996, Mr. Lora has served as the coordinator of the Bank's annual report, Economic and Social Progress in Latin America. His individual contributions to this report have included studies on structural reforms, income inequality, economic growth, and social policies.

Takafumi Sato is a Professor at the Economic Research Center and School of Economics at Nagoya University and has an extensive background in the Japanese civil service. After graduating from Hitotsubashi University, Mr. Sato joined Japan's Ministry of Finance in 1973. He spent two years in Britain, and obtained a master's degree in Economics from Oxford University in 1977. Mr. Sato has worked at the International Finance Bureau, the Budget Bureau, and the Banking Bureau, at the Ministry of Finance. He also worked as First Secretary and Counselor at the Embassy of Japan in Switzerland in the late 1980s and early 1990s. When Japan faced financial instability in 1997-98, he held relevant positions, such as Director of the Japan Ministry of Finance Banking Bureau and Director of the Commissioner's Secretariat of the Financial Supervisory Agency (expanded and renamed the Financial Services Agency in July 2000). Mr. Sato has been in his current position since July 1999, and his main topic of research is prudential policy, i.e. public regulation and supervision to enhance stability in the financial system.

* Mr. Sato has contributed a written document to the workshop.

 

Session 4: Market Discipline and the Functioning of Financial Markets

Mitsuhiro Fukao is a Professor of Business and Commerce at the Keio University in Japan. Mr. Fukao graduated from Kyoto University with a Bachelor of Engineering in 1974, and received a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan in 1981. He is an experienced economist from the Bank of Japan, where he has studied internationalization of financial markets and monetary policy. He was Senior Economist at the Bank of Japan Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, and was appointed Senior Economist at the Economic Planning Agency of Japan in 1983. He also served as Principal Administrator at Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 1991, and was Head of the Strategic Research Division at the Bank of Japan Research and Statistics Department. Mr. Fukao became a professor at Keio University in 1997. His studies of international finance, exchange rate policy, corporate governance, and his recent work on financial systems and financial crises, have been widely published in Japanese and in English.

Roque Benjamín Fernández served as Minister of Economy and Public Works and Services from 1996 to 1999; and was President (1991), Director (1990), and Vice President (1989) of the Argentine Central Bank. Mr. Fernández has been Director of the Accounting Department at the Universidad del Centro de Estudios Macroeconómicos since 2000. He has been President of the Board of Directors at Centro de Estudios Macroeconómicos de Argentina since 1986, where he has been Professor of Macroeconomics and International Finance since 1978. He has worked at the Universidad San Andrés, University of Southern California, Florida International University, Universidad de Chile, Universidad Católica de Chile, and Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, in addition to the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and Argentine state of Cordoba's Development Ministry. Mr. Fernández is a well-published academic. He has written two books and numerous papers on economic policy. He has studied the areas of financial systems in developing economies, monetary and fiscal policies, exchange rate policies, balance of payments adjustment, international finance, world debt, and financial crises. Roque Fernández holds doctorate degrees in economics from both the University of Chicago and the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina.

Sergio Schmukler is a financial economist in the Macroeconomics and Growth team, Development Research Group. He also works at the Office of the Chief Economist for Latin America and he is a visiting scholar at the Center for International Economics, Department of Economics, University of Maryland College Park. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1997. Before joining the World Bank, he worked at the Federal Reserve Board, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Argentine Central Bank. His research area is international finance and international financial markets and institutions. He is currently doing research on exchange rate regimes, financial integration, mutual funds, banking, financial contagion, and financial development in emerging markets.

Clifford M. Griep is executive managing director of the Financial Institutions Department in the debt rating group of Standard and Poor's. His area has global responsibility for debt and counterparty ratings of sovereigns, and financial intermediaries including bank supported financings. The group includes rating and monitoring activities on derivative product and other specialized operating entities, managed funds, and collateralized debt programs. The group conducts counterparty credit surveillance, fixed income credit research, on the sovereign and financial sectors, and fund risk rating and monitoring services to funds and fiduciaries. The group's frequent commentary on developments in the capital and funds markets, and its ratings surveillance, and research publications are widely used by investors and other market participants. Clifford joined Standard & Poor's in 1981, after receiving an MBA in money and financial markets from Columbia Graduate School of Business and a B.A. in English literature from Rutgers University. Since joining Standard & Poor's, he has been actively involved in the rating and surveillance effort on both financial institutions and structured securities, including the development of the asset backed rating effort in 1985. He headed Standard & Poor's Structured Finance group from 1989 to 1991. Cliff is an active contributor to Standard & Poor's publications, and is a frequent speaker on trends in the financial services industry. He is also the former President of the Fixed Income Analysts Society.

Pietro Masci is Chief of the Infrastructure and Financial Markets Division at the Inter-American Development Bank. From 1993 to 1998, he was Chief of the Cofinancing Division of the Bank. He worked for the Italian Treasury and was responsible for the external borrowing programs and management of public debt. He managed the U.S. portfolio of Italian Mutual Funds. He has served as Chairman of the Audit Committee and as a Board Member of Italian banks. He has also worked with the Inter-American Investment Corporation and World Bank. Masci holds degrees in economics and political science from the University of Rome; a diploma in international banking from London Polytechnic; and an MBA in finance from The George Washington University.

 

Session 5: Preemptive Strategies. Assessment and Management of Financial Risks.

Theodore M. Barnhill, Jr. has been a Professor of Finance at The George Washington University since July 1978, where he currently serves as Chairman of the Department of Finance and Director of the Financial Markets Research Institute (FMRI). His principal areas of teaching are financial institution management and modeling, financial engineering, derivative securities markets, and corporate financial management. His research interests center on integrated market and credit risk modeling, financial institution and financial sector risk assessment, asset/liability management, trading, and hedging and arbitrage in equity and fixed income security markets. Mr. Barnhill co-founded FinSoft, Inc. a financial software development company focusing on security valuation and risk management in September 1995. He has also worked as an independent consultant with a variety of organizations including the: IMF, U.S.A.I.D., Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Department of Energy, General Accounting Office, Federal Power Commission, The World Bank, private companies, financial institutions and law firms. He co-edited a recent book on High-Yield Bonds with input from a number of major investment banks and a major rating agency. His writings include studies on: (1) Modeling risk levels for South African Banks which received the 2001 Milken Institute Award for research excellence in the area of global studies, (2) financing private power projects in developing countries, (3) interest rate hedging strategies employed by financial institutions, (4) hybrid securities having commodity option characteristics, (5) pricing foreign exchange options and forward contracts, (6) financing Alaskan Natural Gas Transportation System proposals, (7) financing alternatives for the U.S. strategic petroleum reserve, and (8) factors affecting the volatility of silver prices. Mr. Barnhill has also actively participated in real estate development and investment, managed a limited partnership that traded futures contracts, and for five years wrote a monthly futures market review for clients in the U.S. and Japan. He has consulted with, and given seminars to, financial institutions and government officials in the U.S., Pakistan, South Africa, and Thailand on pricing fixed income securities, hedging strategies to manage market and credit risk and financial market development. Professor Barnhill has a PhD in Finance, an MBA, and an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from The University of Michigan. He has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Tennessee Technological University.

Elizabeth H. Roberts assumed the post of Director of the Financial Stability Institute (FSI) as of June 1, 2000. Prior to joining the FSI, Ms. Roberts was a staff member of the Federal Reserve Board's Division of Banking Supervision and Regulation for more than twenty years. In 1993, she was appointed manager of the Division's International Policy Section where she developed, among other things, the Federal Reserve's program for supervising the U.S. operations of foreign banks. In 1996, she was appointed by the Federal Reserve to a three-year secondment to the Secretariat of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision at the Bank for International Settlements. While with the Basel Committee, Ms. Roberts was one of the primary authors of the "Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision" and the "Core Principles Methodology." She also drafted the Committee's documents related to numerous risk management topics including internal controls, credit risk management, and corporate governance. Upon returning to the Federal Reserve Board in August 1999, Ms. Roberts was appointed Manager of the Examination Policy and Procedures Section. Ms. Roberts has also worked in the International Division of First Union National Bank (Charlotte, North Carolina) and in retail banking at a community bank in Virginia. Ms. Roberts has a B.A. in German Studies from Sweet Briar College and spent her junior year at the University of Munich (Germany). She also has a Masters degree from the American Graduate School of International Management (Phoenix, Arizona).

Jean Pierre (J.P.) Sabourin is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) and Chair of the Financial Stability Forum Working Group on Deposit Insurance. Mr. Sabourin's depth of experience provides him with unparalleled expertise in all aspects of deposit insurance. This experience has made him very much in demand as an advisor internationally on deposit insurance issues. In 2000, the Financial Stability Forum-a forum convened by the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to promote international financial stability-established the FSF Working Group on Deposit Insurance to develop guidance on the establishment of deposit insurance systems and their subsequent evolution. As Chair, Mr. Sabourin has worked to include as many countries as possible in the Group's deliberations and to foster a consensus that guidance should be adapted by national authorities to meet local conditions. The Working Group is the only international forum for the exchange of information by practitioners on deposit insurance, a key contributor to global financial stability. Mr. Sabourin, in his bilateral international activities, helped other countries form their deposit insurance funds and corporations, provided technical assistance, and counseled several countries' deposit insurers on improving their deposit insurance systems. He assisted countries such as Hungary, Jamaica, Taiwan, The Philippines, Hong Kong, and Ukraine. Mr. Sabourin joined CDIC in 1976 and has been President and CEO since 1990. Under his leadership, CDIC and the Canadian deposit insurance system have become recognized around the world for their strength. Mr. Sabourin holds an MBA from the University of Toronto's Executive Program. He is also actively involved in a number of cultural and philanthropic endeavours.

Stefan Ingves is Director of the Monetary and Exchange Affairs Department at the International Monetary Fund, Member of the Financial Stability Forum, and Member of The Toronto International Leadership Centre for Financial Sector Supervision. Before joining the Fund, he was the First Deputy Director of the Central Bank of Sweden. Among his previous positions, he served as Director General of the Swedish Bank Support Authority, Undersecretary at the Swedish Ministry of Finance, Member of the Executive Boards of the National Debt Office, the Stockholm Stock Exchange, and the National Center Securities Depository Company. He also served on various committees including as a member of the G-10 Deputies, the BIS Eurocurrency Committee, and the EU Commission's Banking Advisory Committee.

Jose Antonio Meade Kuribreña has a bachelor's degree in Economics from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México and a law degree from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University, where he specialized in public finance and international economy. During his professional career, he has been General Director of Financial Planning at the National Commission for the Retirement Savings System, where he was responsible for projects regarding economic, financial, and actuarial analysis related to the development and regulation of the Mexican pension system; evaluation of regulation models for the new pension system; and technical support for the Congress. Mr. Meade was also Under Secretary in the Institute for the Protection of Bank Savings (IPAB). At IPAB, Mr. Meade took charge of projects including the instrumentation of financial support programs in Serfín and BanCrecer; selling Grupo Financiero Serfín; evaluating the strengthening programs at Banco del Atlántico and Banca Promex; negotiating new strengthening programs for Banco Inverlat; coordinating Congressional discussion for allowing IPAB's to refinance its debt; and designing and implementing the Institute's debt refinancing strategy. Mr. Meade is currently the General Director of Banking and Savings at the Mexican Ministry of Finance. He coordinated the 2001 reform efforts in issues related with banks, financial groups, and the new pension system and is the authority responsible for: governing the corporate life of some financial intermediaries like banks and financial groups among other and analyzing and issuing the guidelines and regulation for the development of those intermediaries.

Motoo Kusakabe has been Vice President of Resource Mobilization and Cofinancing at The World Bank since February 1999, and was Senior Advisor to the Managing Director from 1997 to 1999. During the past decade, Mr. Kusakabe has held various positions at both the Japan Ministry of Finance and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. At the Ministry of Finance, where he served as Deputy Commissioner for International Affairs at the National Tax Administration, Banking Bureau Deputy Director General, and Financial Inspection Department Control Division Director, Mr. Kusakabe dealt with taxation, banking legislation, and financial institution risk management. His positions at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development include Director of the Uzbekistan/Kazakhstan Country Department, Financial Infrastructure Department Deputy Director, and Former Soviet Union Department Deputy Director. Other previous positions at the Japan Ministry of Finance include Banking Bureau Financial Market Office Director, Director of the Office of Vice Minister for International Affairs, and Chief Economist at the Institute of Fiscal and Monetary Policies. Mr. Kusakabe has a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University and earned his M.A. and B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Tokyo. He has published numerous articles and papers related to his work.

 

Concluding Panel Discussion: Lessons for Latin America and the Caribbean

Eduardo Lizano graduated with an economics degrees from the University of Geneva, the London School of Economics, and the University of Paris, Sorbonne. He is a professor of economics at the University of Costa Rica and the Universidad Autónoma de Centroamérica. He was President of the Central Bank of Costa Rica from 1984 to 1990, and has been a consultant to various international organizations such as the United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations (UNCTC), the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Organization of American States (OAS), CIAP, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE), the Inter-American Development Bank Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean (INTAL), United Nations, International Monetary Fund, Inter-American Development Bank, and the World Bank. He was a founding member of the Consejeros Económicos y Financieros S. A. (CEFSA), the Central American Academy, and Director in various organization and national company Boards of Directors. Mr. Lizano is currently President of the Central Bank of Costa Rica. He has published numerous books and papers, primarily concerning economic integration and financial sector reform.

 

Roberto Zahler is President of the Zahler & Co consulting firm and Chairman of Siemens - Chile S.A. He is a member of the "Non-G7 Eminent Persons Group" (EMEPG) for international financial architecture and of the Latin-American Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee (LASFRC). He is a Board member of Banco Santiago and Chairman of the Advisory Board of Deutsche Bank Americas Bond Fund (N.Y.) Between 1998 and 2000 he was a member of the Institute of International Finance (IIF) International Jury, for "The Jacques de Larosière Competition." Between May 1999 and May 2000 he was a member of the IMF Quota Formula Review Group (QFRG). From April 1999 until May 2000 he was a Visiting Scholar at the Research Department of the IMF and a Director of "The Five Arrows Chile Investment Trust" (London). In 1988, 1999 and 2000 Mr. Zahler was a member of the Joint Committee on Remuneration (JCR) of the World Bank and IMF Executive Directors and their Alternates. He was President of the Central Bank of Chile from December 1991 until June 1996 and Vice President from March 1990 until November 1996. Prior to that, he served in a range of economic positions in the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC/UN). From 1984 until 1989 he was ECLAC's Chief Regional Adviser in Monetary and Financial Policy and from 1978 until 1983 he worked as Monetary Expert in the UNDP/ECLAC Project "Implications for Latin America of the Situation of the International Monetary and Financial System." He has been a consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), IMF, International Labour Organisation (ILO-PREALC), Ford Foundation and the World Bank. Mr. Zahler has given technical assistance to Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Mexico, Uruguay; United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Pro-Tempore Secretariat of the Cartagena Agreement and Latin-American Economic System (SELA). Mr. Zahler has been a speaker, lecturer, panelist, and discussant in Chilean and foreign universities, as well as in many international meetings. He is author of more than ninety publications and articles in books and internationals journals. Mr. Zahler has an M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago and has a B.A in economics from the University of Chile, where he has taught Macroeconomics, International Economics and Monetary Theory and Policy.

Claudio Loser, a national of Argentina, is Director of the Western Hemisphere Department in the International Monetary Fund. The Western Hemisphere Department, one of the largest in the Fund, includes 34 member countries from North, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. Mr. Loser has an extensive background in economic issues in Latin America. He graduated from the University of Cuyo in Argentina and received his Masters of Arts and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1967 and 1971, respectively. Mr. Loser has taught international economics and finance at the University of Cuyo and at American University in Washington, D.C. He was also a consultant for the Andean Group in Lima, Peru. Mr. Loser joined the International Monetary Fund in 1972. He held various senior positions in the Western Hemisphere Department, including during the debt crisis of the 1980s. Mr. Loser initially worked in the Exchange and Trade Restrictions Department, now the Policy Development and Review Department, where he dealt with external debt and program conditionality issues, participating in missions to countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. Mr. Loser was named Director of the Western Hemisphere Department in 1994. During this time, a number of important financial support programs have been negotiated and implemented in the region. Under his leadership, the department has also been actively involved in a wide range of surveillance, technical assistance, and research activities, reflecting the diversity of its member countries, in terms of both their size and income levels. He has participated in a large number of international conferences and has published in numerous journals, mostly on Latin American economic issues.

Shigeki Kimura joined the Inter-American Development Bank in July 1999. Since then, in his capacity as Deputy Manager of the Finance Department, he has been responsible for Capital Markets Division and Accounting Division. Before joining the Bank, Mr. Kimura worked at the Ministry of Finance. As an official of the Japanese government for 17 years, he directed various areas , including federal budget planning, tax system reform, the supervision of financial institutions, and international financial policies. In particular, Mr. Kimura played a key role in the development of the Ministry's international financial policies in the five years prior to his joining the Inter-American Development Bank. First, he was responsible for the government's foreign exchange market policy and later, he served as the Director for Coordination at the International Bureau of the Ministry, when he contributed to the Ministry's policy decisions and implementation of measures to cope with the Asian financial crisis.

K. Burke Dillon is Executive Vice President of the Inter-American Development Bank. Ms. K. Burke Dillon assumed her position as Executive Vice President of the IDB on January 11, 1999. Prior to joining the IDB, Ms. Dillon had served since 1995 as head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s Administration Department, responsible for human resources and administrative services. During 1993 and 1994, she was the IMF's Resident Representative in Moscow. Ms. Dillon joined the IMF in 1973. Her early assignments included country assignments on Kenya, Peru, and Argentina. She subsequently became Senior Economist in the International Capital Markets Division and between 1984 and 1992 served as chief of three IMF divisions: Stand-by Operations, External Finance, and Southern Africa. From 1979 to 1980, she took leave from the IMF to join the U.S. President's Council of Economic Advisers as Senior Staff Economist for finance, money, housing and urban policy. A native of Minnesota, Ms. Dillon received her BA from Northwestern University in economics and journalism and she holds graduate degrees in economics from the London School of Economics and Yale University. Before joining the IMF, she conducted thesis research on nonbank financial intermediaries in Kenya.

 

Lunch: Strategies to Avoid Future Crises

Adam S. Posen is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for International Economics. He is also currently an international affairs fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a short-term public policy fellow at the American Academy in Berlin. His research focuses on macroeconomic policy in the industrial democracies, G3 economic relations, and central banking issues. His work in progress includes an 18-month study of Germany in the World Economy after EMU supported by a major grant from the German Marshall Fund of the United States; a book for the Institute on Dollarization, Currency Blocs, and U.S. Foreign Policy; a series of journal articles on the effects of the increasing transparency of monetary policy; and contributing chapters to three major multi-author studies of change in Japan. Dr. Posen is the author of the book Restoring Japan's Economic Growth (1998; Japanese translation, Toyo Keizai, 1999), the co-author of Inflation Targeting: Lessons from the International Experience (Princeton University Press, 1999), the editor and coauthor of The Future of Monetary Policy (Blackwell, forthcoming, 2000), and the coeditor and coauthor of Japan's Financial Crisis and its Parallels to U.S. Experience (2000). He is the author of numerous academic and applied articles on monetary economics and international political economy, including the 1993 Amex Bank Awards Silver Medal winning article "Why Central Bank Independence Does Not Cause Low Inflation." From 1994 to 1997, he was economist in international research at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he conducted research on monetary strategy and was part of the teams covering G-7 economic events and European monetary unification. In 1993-94, he was Okun Memorial Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution. In 1992-93, Dr. Posen was resident in Germany as a Bosch Foundation Fellow, and worked for the Bundesbank in Frankfurt and for Deutsche Bank in Berlin. Dr. Posen is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, serves on its Independent Task Force on the Japanese Economy, and is a contributing author to its Project on Technological Innovation and National Economic Performance. He is the founding U.S. editor of the refereed journal International Finance and has been a referee for over 15 economics journals and academic presses. He received his Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government and his B.A. in Government (Phi Beta Kappa) from Harvard University.

 

Last updated: 06/01/07