Bank lobby calls for extraordinary global action on credit crunch

By Anindita Ramaswamy Oct 2, 2008, 20:16 GMT

Washington - An influential international banking lobby group on Thursday called for urgent and bold actions globally, particularly from European nations, to stabilise troubled financial markets.

A systemic, internationally coordinated response in the US and Europe was essential at this point, even requiring large - if temporary use - of government funds, said the Institute of International Finance's (IIF) director Charles Dallara.

'The global financial system is facing the most extraordinary challenges of the last eight decades, requiring prompt, internationally coordinated actions if a global recession is to be avoided,' said an IIF letter drafted Thursday to finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Washington next week at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Dallara said the IMF needed to play a leading role in addressing the financial turmoil and would have to urgently change to be effective in dealing with the financial crises of the 21st century.

He also called for the inclusion of emerging economies in the G-7, the group of leading industrialised democracies, echoing a call by French President Nicholas Sarkozy at the United Nations General Assembly last week.

While acknowledging that US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's 700-billion-dollar financial rescue plan 'can have a catalytic effect on markets,' Dallara said it wasn't enough. The US House of Representatives could vote Friday on a second version of the emergency bill that failed on Monday, sending markets plunging.

'Still more needs to be done to set global financial markets on a path toward stability and recovery, including bold, pre-emptive actions by European authorities,' he said at a news conference.

Dallara called Paulson's proposal 'a turning point' because it showed the way ahead for governments to step in, in times of crises.

'For too long fiscal authorities and governments have relied too heavily on central banks to solve finance problems,' Dallara said.

In its letter to the IMF, the lobby group noted that the world was at a crucial point in international regulatory development.

'Either we fall back into national approaches resulting in a fragmentation of the global regulatory environment, or we reach out to strengthen international coordination,' it said.

Dallara was critical of the IMF, saying, 'We've seen how difficult it has been for the IMF to stabilise the global financial crisis.'

The IIF's letter to the IMF's International Monetary and Financial Committee noted that the fund needed to review and adapt its policy tools and methods of operation.

'We cannot afford to have a pillar of the global financial system unable to act in times of crisis,' it said.

Dallara told reporters that it was clear the IMF needed to change, and the financial meltdown showed that this was the time for it.

'There has been no better opportunity in the last 60 years, and no greater need, for the IMF to change,' Dallara said.

He suggested that at its meeting next week, the IMF should frame a resolution to guide a compatible global approach to the turmoil and perform the role of multilateral coordinator.

He also spoke of the benefits of European governments creating a common pool of funds that would tide them over future financial crises and assist banks that were burdened with toxic assets.

The ongoing credit crisis has made it clear that countries needed to take a broader, macroeconomic view of finding innovative solutions, Dallara said, adding that 'emerging markets deserve a larger presence at the decision-making table and in the G-7,' referring to the group of leading industrialised nations.

'The G-7 has served the global financial system well for over two decades,' the IIF chief said. 'But, just as the G-5 gave way to the G-7 in the mid-1980s, so it is past time to expand the G-7 to include ... several systemically important emerging market countries as full partners.'

In an address to the UN General Assembly last week, France's Sarkozy called for adding new members to the exclusive G-8, which is the G-7 plus Russia, to reflect demands of emerging countries.

Under such proposals, the G-8 in particular could become the G-14, with new members like China, India, Mexico, South Africa and Brazil, the emerging economic powers among developing countries, Sarkozy said. The group currently is comprised of the United States, Germany, Italy, France, Canada, Japan, Britain and Russia.

Sarkozy said the world is still governed by 20th-century institutions. 'Let today's major powers and the powers of tomorrow unite to shoulder together the responsibilities their influence gives them in world affairs.'