Publication

This paper provides the first detailed look inside the operations of the Financial Stability Forum (FSF), a little known and secretive institution created shortly after the emerging-market crises of the late 1990s. FSF’s primary aim was to coordinate efforts in preventing and mitigating future crises. The paper is based on interviews with scores of policy makers who worked on the FSF in various capacities, and on undisclosed documents, mostly notes, minutes and confidential summaries of the FSF’s meetings. The story that unfolds illuminates the failure of regulators to keep pace with the globalization of the financial system.