The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has hosted the fifth meeting of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) Regional Consultative Group (RCG) for Sub-Saharan Africa in Accra, Ghana.

The FSB RCG for Sub-Saharan Africa is co-chaired by Lesetja Kganyago, Deputy Governor, South African Reserve Bank and Rundheersing Bheenick, Governor, Bank of Mauritius.

Membership includes financial authorities from Ghana, Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania, as well as the Central Bank of West African States based in Senegal.

A statement issued by Esi Hammond, BoG Public Affairs Officer and copied to Ghana News Agency on Wednesday said at the meeting, members of the FSB RCG for Sub-Saharan Africa began by reviewing the FSB’s work plan and the completion of policy reforms in four priority areas.

It said these were building resilient financial institutions, ending too-big-to-fail, transforming shadow banking, and making derivatives markets safer. The statement said members heard a report on the ongoing review of the structure of the FSB’s representation, and also discussed vulnerabilities in the global financial system and regional financial stability issues.

In this context, they considered uncertainties in the global growth outlook and the unwinding of accommodative monetary policies in advanced economies, and their impact on the Sub-Saharan Africa region.

They discussed the application of financial soundness indicators in Sub-Saharan Africa and also considered financial regulatory factors affecting the availability of long-term investment finance. Members exchanged views on long-term finance and recent developments in the region and how financial regulation can facilitate the channelling of funds to support long-term investment.

It said implementation of the FSB’s Key Attributes of Effective Resolution Regimes for Financial Institutions (Key Attributes) and the related assessment methodology was another focus of the meeting.

In this context, members discussed cross-border cooperation and information sharing with host authorities who are not members of crisis management groups for global systemically important financial institutions (G-SIFIs), in particular with those authorities in jurisdictions where a G-SIFI has a systemic presence.

It said members noted that while capacity building among financial sector supervisors in the region has been a challenge for a number of years, the global regulatory reforms developed in response to the financial crisis further highlight the need for well trained, experienced, adequately staffed and well-funded supervisory authorities.

The FSB has been established to coordinate at the international level the work of national financial authorities and international standard setting bodies and to develop and promote the implementation of effective regulatory, supervisory and other financial sector policies in the interest of financial stability.

It brings together national authorities responsible for financial stability in 24 countries and jurisdictions, international financial institutions, sector-specific international groupings of regulators and supervisors, and committees of central bank experts.