Together with the existing institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank and the BIS at the international level, we have probably now an efficient structure to cope with current and future international financial challenges. -  The implementation of internationally acknowledged standards will contribute to reduce emerging market economies’ financial vulnerabilities and, together with enhanced transparency, improve market discipline and market participants’ ability to better assess the risks of their investment decisions. ·  2  Many efforts have already been achieved with the design of 65 internationally agreed standards and codes; the Financial Stability Forum identified 12 out of them as key for  BIS Review 49/2001  the international financial stability and suggested incentives to implement them. The implementation of these standards is in the self interest of all partners in the process of economic and financial globalisation. The commitment of countries to implement Codes and Standards is likely to be reinforced if market participants actually reflect information on observance of Codes and Standards in differentiated credit ratings. 1.1.2  ·  International Financial Institutions have also continued to proceed toward greater transparency, in particular the participation of 60 countries on a voluntary basis in the pilot initiative for the release of IMF article IV reports. ·  As regards the private sector, progress may take the form of voluntary improved disclosure, more demanding statistical reporting and extended requirements for nontransparent segments of the financial markets. Prevention also lays on sound economic conditions.
The IMF should not thus provide unlimited and unconditional financial support, its catalytic role remaining a core element of  BIS Review 49/2001  3  financial crisis resolution. As a consequence, IMF financial assistance should be ex ante limited in terms of quotas. Access above these regular limits should be exceptional and allowed only in cases of systemic risks. However, if short-term financing is the bulk of IMF lending role, the IMF should also promote macro-stability, including structural matters relevant for macro-economic policies. As a consequence, the IMF needs a medium and long term surveillance and medium and long term facilities for adjustments to take hold. -  2. As regards its role in crisis management, the IMF could concentrate on agreeing with the crisis country a program which ensures adjustment and financing over the short and medium-term: ·  This means, for example, that IMF conditionality should cover short and medium and long term issues. The Asian crisis has led to an extension of IMF conditionality to structural areas, mainly as regards financial systems restructuring issues. This extension was somewhat criticised but I do not share such views: including structural matters in the IMF conditionality is clearly in line with IMF missions as regards financial stability and should reinforce its efficiency. In that respect, the review of IMF conditionality under process should not mean, in my opinion, that it should necessarily be weakened, by focusing only on short term macroeconomic variables.