G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors stress the importance of convergence for the resilience of financial markets

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21 Jul 2013

The communiqué from meeting of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors held in Moscow on 19-20 July 2013 reiterates the call for the finalisation of the joint IASB and FASB projects.

The participants discussed traditional G20 agenda including the G20 Framework agreement for strong, sustainable and balanced growth, the financial regulation reforms, and market transparency. The final communiqué contains the usual sentence urging convergence stressing this time how convergence can contribute to financial stability:

We reiterate our call on the IASB and FASB to finalize by the end of 2013 their work on key outstanding projects for achieving convergence on a single set of high-quality accounting standards. We recall the crucial importance of making swift progress on this issue in order to enhance resilience of financial markets.

Another topic of discussion was also the question of how long-term financing can be encouraged. A research group led by Indonesia and Germany presented information on the experiences and country-specific practices of stimulating long-term investment. Short-termism in investor behaviour is currently a much debated topic, and the question has been raised whether the use of fair value accounting principles has led to it. In a response to the European Commission Green Paper Long-term financing of the European economy, the IASB has already made clear that it "does not believe that fair value accounting principles have of themselves led to short-termism in investment behaviour".

The G20 Leaders' Summit will take place in St. Petersburg on 5-6 September 2013.

Please click for the following information on the G20 website:

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