Election of the Chairman of the Deputies of the Group of Ten

At the March 1999 meeting of the Deputies of the Group of Ten, Henk Brouwer was elected Chairman for a four-year term. Henk Brouwer is currently Executive Director of De Nederlandsche Bank, the central bank of the Netherlands. He has extensive experience with international issues. He served as Alternative Governor for the Netherlands at the International Monetary Fund, is a member of Working Party 3 at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and regularly participates in meetings at the Bank for International Settlements. In addition, he chaired the Group of Ten working party on the ageing of populations, which issued a comprehensive report in April 1998.

The Group of Ten comprises 11 industrial countries (Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States) and facilitates consultation and cooperation on economic, monetary and financial matters. The Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the Group of Ten usually meet twice a year in conjunction with the spring and autumn meetings of the Interim Committee of the International Monetary Fund. The Central Bank Governors of the Group of Ten normally meet eight times a year. Finance Ministry and Central Bank Deputies of the Group of Ten meet on a regular basis, usually four times a year. Various committees and working parties of the Group of Ten are also convened as needed to analyse issues of common interest to member countries. Countries from outside the G-10 sometimes also participate in the work.

In recent years, the Group of Ten have issued reports on the macroeconomic and financial implications of ageing populations, electronic money and the resolution of sovereign liquidity crises. These reports, as well as communiqués of the Group of Ten, can be obtained from the Bank for International Settlements, the International Monetary Fund and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.