Monday, October 28, 2013

8:00

Registration

8:30

Opening: Kofi Wampah, Governor, Bank of Ghana

Welcoming Remarks

Naoyuki Shinohara, Deputy Managing Director, IMF

Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, Vice-President, Ghana

9:00

Session 1: A Changing Financial Landscape in West Africa

The session describes the changing financial landscape in West Africa in the past decade, highlighting the nature and magnitude of cross-border flows and the growing importance of regional and Pan-African financial groups. It identifies the main opportunities (increased competition and access to financial services, economies of scale, financial innovation) and challenges (cross-border supervision, consolidated supervision, regional capital flows) arising from an increasingly dynamic and complex financial environment. The session also looks at the factors behind the rise of regional financial hubs.

Chair: Kofi Wampah, Governor, Bank of Ghana

Presenter: Kal Wajid, Division Chief, African Department, IMF

Panelists:

1. J. Mills Jones, Executive Governor, Central Bank of Liberia

2. Bolo Sanou, Secretary General, Banking Commission, C te d Ivoire

3. Paul-Harry Aithnard, Head of Research, Ecobank, Ghana

4. Abwaku Englama, Director-General, West African Monetary Institute, Ghana

Open Discussion

10:30

Coffee Break

11:00

Session 2: Operational Aspects of Cross-Border Banking Issues, Supervision and Regulation – Lessons from International Experience

This session explores lessons from international experience of cross-border banking for regulatory frameworks and supervisory practices. Cross-border banking poses particular challenges for both home and host regulators and supervisors in their work to preserve financial stability. Drawing on experience from other parts of the world, the session will look into key aspects of effective supervision, such as arrangements for information sharing, supervision of banking conglomerates, crisis management, and burden sharing.

Opening address by Jos Vi als, Financial Counsellor and Director, Monetary and Capital Markets Department, IMF

Chair: Mamadou Diop, Vice Governor, BCEAO

Panelists:

1. Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile, Governor, Bank of Uganda

2. Agnes Martins, Director of Banking Supervision, Central Bank of Nigeria

3. Christian Durand, Banque de France

4. Kweku Bedu-Addo, CEO, Standard Chartered Bank, Ghana

Open Discussion

12:30

Lunch

14:00

Session 3: Mobilization of Long-Term Financing for National and Regional Infrastructure

This session will bring together infrastructure finance practitioners and policymakers to discuss options for infrastructure finance development in West Africa. It will look at prerequisites to establish the enabling environments needed by developers, investors, and financiers to mobilize long-term financing for national and regional infrastructure projects. The session will focus on exploring specific measures required to stimulate investors’ interest in infrastructure projects on the one side, while also proposing concrete steps to develop customized financing solutions, crowding in pension funds and other institutional investors.

Chair: Seth Terkper, Minister of Finance, Ghana

Presenter: Paul Noumba Um, Sector Manager, Financial and Private Sector for West and Central Africa, World BanK

Panelists:

1. Ato Gyasi, Head of Infrastructure Financing, RMB, Nigeria

2. Yves Boudot, Directeur Afrique, AFD, France

3. Yu Wen, Deputy General Manager, China EXIM Bank

4. TBD

Open discussion

15:30

Coffee Break

16:00

Session 4: Roundtable Discussion: Lessons and the Way Forward

Moderator: Antoinette Sayeh, Director, African Department, IMF

Panelists:

Participating Ministers of Finance

Open discussion

17:30

Concluding Remarks

Naoyuki Shinohara, Deputy Managing Director, IMF

Seth Terkper, Minister of Finance, Ghana

18:00

Joint Press Conference