Secret summit of top bankers

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http://www.news.com.au/business/secret- ... 5827289543

THE world's top central bankers began arriving in Australia yesterday as renewed fears about the strength of the global economic recovery gripped world share markets.

Representatives from 24 central banks and monetary authorities including the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank landed in Sydney to meet tomorrow at a secret location, the Herald Sun reports.

Organised by the Bank for International Settlements last year, the two-day talks are shrouded in secrecy with high-level security believed to have been invoked by law enforcement agencies.

Speculation that the chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Dr Ben Bernanke, would make an appearance could not be confirmed last night.

The event will be dominated by Asian delegations and is expected to include governors of the Peoples Bank of China, the Bank of Japan and the Reserve Bank of India.

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The arrival of the high-powered gathering coincided with a fresh meltdown on world sharemarkets, sparked by renewed concerns about global growth and sovereign debt.

Fears countries including Greece, Portugal, Spain and Dubai could default on debt repayments combined with disappointing US jobs data to spook investors.

Australia's ASX 200 slumped 2.4 per cent, to a its lowest close since November 5, echoing a sharp fall on Wall Street.

Asian share markets were also pummelled, with Japan's Nikkei 225 down almost 3 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slumping 3.3 per cent.

The damage was also being felt by European markets last night with London's FTSE 100 down sagging 1 per cent in early trade.

Sovereign debt fears rippled through to the Australian dollar which was hammered to a four-month low of US86.43 and was trading at US86.77 cents last night.

"This does feel like '08 and '07 all over again whereby we had these sort of little fires pop up and they are supposedly contained but in reality they are not quite contained,'' said H3 Global Advisors chief executive Andrew Kaleel.

"Dubai should have been an isolated incident and now we are seeing issues with Greece, Portugal and Spain.''

It wasn't all bad news with the RBA yesterday upping its Australian growth forecasts and flagging more interest rate rises this year.

The central bank estimates the economy grew 2 per cent in 2009, and will expand by 3.25 per cent in 2010, and by 3.5 per cent in 2011.

The outlook for global growth is likely to be a key theme of the high level central bank talks.

The gathering also comes at an important time for the BIS as it initiates an overhaul of the global banking system which will include new capital rules applying to banks and more stringent standards regulating executive pay.

A key part of the two-day talkfest will be a special meeting of Asian central bankers chaired by the governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

Influential BIS general manager Jaime Caruana is also expected to take a prominent role in the talks.

Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan will address the central bank officials at a dinner on Monday night.

[Ognir]

IQALUIT, Nunavut (AP) -

IQALUIT, Nunavut (AP) -- A crisis in Europe over budget belt-tightening has upended global markets and seized the attention of financial leaders meeting in the Canadian Arctic.

Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven major industrial countries also planned to try on Saturday to settle differences on banking industry changes. There are fears that go-it-alone moves such as President Barack Obama's plan to break up big banks will further hamper the fledging economic recovery.

Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty hoped his choice of the remote town of Iqaluit, population 7,000, where temperatures can dip to 40 degrees below zero in February, would make officials focus on the task ahead.

The United States was represented by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. The G-7 consists of the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada.

The agenda Saturday included developments in the global economy, banking reform and proposals for more debt relief to Haiti, recovering from a devastating earthquake. A closing news conference was set for the afternoon.

Developments in Europe provided a sobering reminder that G-7 policymakers still face major hurdles in repairing a broken global economy.

The Portuguese parliament's defeat of a government austerity plan triggered renewed concerns that it and other countries such as Greece and Spain were having trouble tightening budget controls to manage their budget deficits. That could threaten the economic recovery in Europe.

Stocks fell in Asia and Europe, while the Dow Jones industrial average clawed back to a small gain after suffering the largest single-day drop in seven months, on worries about the global economy.

"I think we have to be very mindful of the failure or potential failure of domestic economies," Flaherty told reporters.

On banking reform, the other G-7 countries were expected to press Geithner to explain the announcement by Obama last month that the United States would seek tougher rules to prevent risky actions by big banks from toppling the entire financial system.

British Treasury chief Alistair Darling has led calls for more coordinated action. He has said that the U.S. proposal does not address the biggest threat of the links between banks that can quickly transmit loan troubles at one institution to the entire system.

Flaherty said G-7 countries agreed on the need to continue with government stimulus programs to prevent the world from plunging back into recession. But Germany and France have expressed concern about how long stimulus aid should be maintained. They worry about soaring budget deficits and the risk of inflation.

Obama presented a budget plan this past week that would boost job-creation efforts and raise the U.S. budget deficit to a record $1.56 trillion this year. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is also stressing government stimulus even though critics point out that the country's budget deficit as a share of its gross domestic product could reach 12 percent this year.

In Japan, where the economy has struggled for two decades, the government unveiled more stimulus spending last week.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/World-fin ... et=&ccode=




Seems the banksters only meet now in remote places
Good on ya Jim Flaherty Zio clown :lol: