The Current Financial Crisis and Reform of the Global Financial Architecture

The current financial crisis has sparked an active debate about the adequacy of the global financial architecture (GFA) or the collective governance arrangements for promoting the stability of the international financial system which are mainly centred in the operations of the Financial Stability Forum (now Board) and IMF. There are three areas in particular in which the governance arrangements for the GFA did not work effectively in the lead-up to the current crisis: the oversight of global financial system stability, the coordination of international financial regulation, and the provision of a lender of last resort mechanism. In the light of recent G20 decisions, proposals for reform in each of these areas need to be discussed.