CPSS organises first workshop in Hong Kong

The Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems of the central banks of the Group of Ten countries (CPSS) held its first workshop with senior-level officials from invited central banks from the Asian and Pacific region in Hong Kong SAR on Friday 21 May 1999.

In the last few years, the CPSS has twice organised special meetings in Basel (Switzerland) with central banks from outside the G10 countries. The first was in May 1995, and was attended by central bank representatives from 12 countries from all over the world, the second took place in December 1996, with 15 countries participating. These meetings have proved to be extremely useful for the exchange of information on current developments with respect to payment systems, in particular with regard to developments aiming at reducing risks in payment and settlement systems. Members of the Committee have gained a wealth of insights from these meetings.

The current Chairman of the CPSS is Mr Wendelin Hartmann, a member of the Directorate of the Deutsche Bundesbank.

In his opening address to the workshop in Hong Kong, Mr Hartmann noted that it was in many respects a special event:

For the first time the CPSS has met outside Basel

The regular committee meetings of the CPSS are held twice a year. Until now, these meetings have always taken place at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel, Switzerland. Last year the BIS opened its Representative Office for Asia and the Pacific in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.

It was announced that the Office would serve as a regional centre for the activities of the BIS in Asia. The Committee recognised the opportunities offered by the opening of the new Representative Office and decided to hold this year's May meeting in Hong Kong, followed by this workshop to which all central banks in Asia and the Pacific would be invited.

For the first time, the CPSS has organised a workshop with central banks from a specific region

While the two previous special meetings included central banks from non-G10 countries, they did not focus on a particular region. This workshop brought together experts from 26 central banks and monetary authorities from the Asian and Pacific regions as well as from the G10 countries. The workshop will thus have benefited from this regional focus.

The workshop centred around four main themes, or modules:

• payment systems in periods of transition;
• oversight of payment systems and the current work of the CPSS Task Force that is elaborating core principles for the design and operation of payment systems;
• foreign exchange settlement;
• securities settlement infrastructures.

Welcome by Mr Tony Latter (HKMA)

Mr Tony Latter, Deputy Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Kong Monetary Authority gave a welcoming luncheon address to the roughly 50 workshop participants.

(*) For information on the BIS Representative Office for Asia and the Pacific (Hong Kong SAR), please contact Mr George Pickering, Chief Representative, tel.: +852 - 2878 7100; fax: +852 - 2878 7123.