Currency internationalisation: lessons from the global financial crisis and prospects for the future in Asia and the Pacific

Since its launch in September 2006, the Asian Research Programme has focused on policy-oriented studies for central banks and supervisory authorities in the Asia-Pacific region. Under the programme, the BIS Representative Office for Asia and the Pacific has co-organised a series of conferences, seminars and workshops with central banks and supervisory authorities in Asia and the Pacific. The subjects of interest have included improving monetary policy and operations, developing financial markets, maintaining financial stability and strengthening prudential policy.

On 19-20 March 2009, the BIS Asian Office and the Bank of Korea co-hosted a high-level seminar on currency internationalisation in Seoul. Participants from 12 central banks as well as academic scholars and BIS economists attended the seminar. The purpose of the seminar was to review experiences of economies in the Asia-Pacific region with currency internationalisation and to assess the prospects for further internationalisation, emphasising the policy implications facing central banks if current trends continue. Lessons learned about currency internationalisation since the intensification of the strains in global markets in mid-2007 were also discussed. This volume is a collection of the speeches, presentations and papers from the seminar.

JEL classification: D14, E21, E52, G01, G28

Introduction and opening remarks

	Title	Languages
	Introduction by Andrew Filardo and James Yetman	EN
	Opening remarks by Sung-il Lee	EN
	Opening remarks by Már Guðmundsson	EN

Papers presented

	Title	Languages
	Currency internationalisation: an overview by Peter B Kenen	EN
	Motivations for swap-covered foreign currency borrowing by Anella Munro and Philip Wooldridge	EN
	The euro: internationalised at birth by Frank Moss	EN
	Internationalising the yen, 1984-2003: unfinished agenda or mission impossible? by Shinji Takagi	EN
	The euro and the yen as anchor currencies before and during the financial crisis - comments on Moss's paper "The euro: internationalised at birth" and Takagi's paper "Internationalising the yen, 1984-2003: unfinished agenda or mission impossible?" by Robert N McCauley	EN
	Internationalisation of the renminbi by Haihong Gao and Yongding Yu	EN
	Comments on Gao and Yu's paper "Internationalisation of the renminbi" and Chen, Peng and Shu's paper "The potential of the renminbi as an international currency" by Frank Song	EN
	Dealing with the benefits and costs of internationalisation of the Korean won by Kyungsoo Kim and Young Kyung Suh	EN
	Progress towards internationalisation: the Korean and Singaporean experiences - comments on Kim and Suh's paper "Internationalisation of the won" and Luke Goh's paper "Singapore dollar's evolution away from non-internationaliation" by Atchana Waiquamdee	EN
	Internationalisation of currency in East Asia: implications for regional monetary and financial cooperation by Yung-Chul Park and Kwanho Shin	EN
	Comments on Park and Shin's paper "Internationalisation of currency in East Asia: implications for regional monetary and financial cooperation" by Rizal A Djaafara	EN
	A generation of an internationalised Australian dollar by Ric Battellino and Michael Plumb	EN
	Comments on Gopinath's paper "An internationalised rupee?" and Battellino's paper "A generation of an internationalised Australian dollar": a journey through time by Diwa C Guinigundo	EN

Panel discussion

	Title	Languages
	Currency internationalisation: analytical and policy issues by Hans Genberg	EN
	Panel discussion by Akinari Horii	EN
	The recent experience of the Korean economy with currency internationalisation by Gwang-Ju Rhee	EN
	Panel discussion by Grant Spencer	EN