IMF establishes International Capital Markets Department

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Page 79

In a news brief dated March 1, the IMF announced the creation of an International Capital Markets Department.

The IMF will establish an International Capital Markets Department to enhance its surveillance, crisis prevention, and crisis management activities,Managing Director Horst Köhler announced.

The new department will consolidate activities and operations that are currently spread among three departments, and it is envisioned that the new unit will have some enhanced responsibilities, including systematic liaison with the institutions that supply the bulk of private capital worldwide. The department will also play a central role in the IMF's conceptual work related to the international financial system and to capital market access by member countries, Köhler noted.

"I see this department," Köhler said, "as a vital part of the ongoing efforts to strengthen the international financial architecture, and in particular to strengthen the IMF's role in crisis prevention.

With this move, the IMF is sending a clear signal that it is serious about its commitment to being a center of excellence for work on financial markets issues. It will:

* deepen the IMF's understanding of capital market operations, and of the forces driving the supply of capital;

* strengthen the IMF's capacity for addressing systemic issues...