Press Release: IMF, Swiss National Bank Announce High-Level Conference on International Monetary System

Press Release No.10/171

April 27, 2010

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will jointly host a High-Level Conference on the International Monetary System in Zurich on May 11, 2010.

In the wake of the global crisis, this conference will provide an opportunity to exchange ideas on a number of related topics, including sources of instability in the international monetary system, improving the supply of reserve assets, dealing with volatile capital flows, and possible alternatives to countries’ accumulation of reserves as self-insurance against future crises.

The conference will bring together a group of high-level participants, including central bank governors, other senior policymakers, leading academics, and commentators.

The key objective of the conference is to examine weaknesses in the current international monetary system, and identify reforms that might be desirable over the medium to long run to build a more robust and stable world economy.

The event will be concluded with a joint press conference by SNB Governor Philipp Hildebrand and IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn.