emsley tromp : central bank cooperation – the experiences of emerging and developing economies address by dr emsley tromp, president of the central bank of curacao and sint maarten, at cemla ’ s 60th anniversary commemorative conference “ central bank cooperation at the beginning of the 21st century ”, mexico city, 19 july 2012. * * * good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, first, allow me to congratulate cemla on its 60th anniversary. for the past 60 years, cemla has consistently promoted better knowledge of financial and monetary topics in latin america and the caribbean through cooperation among the region ’ s central banks. this cooperation has evolved according to the prevailing economic conditions, developments in economic thinking, and political views. against this background, i would like to discuss the experiences of emerging and developing economies in the area of central bank cooperation. central banks have a long tradition of cooperation. over time, the objective of cooperation has shifted from monetary stability towards the more comprehensive issue of financial stability, and, the intensity and forms of cooperation have changed. during the 1920s, central bank cooperation was aimed primarily at sustaining the gold standard. in the 1960s, central banks cooperated mainly to maintain the bretton woods system of fixed but adjustable exchange rates. because of the disappointing experiences with foreign exchange rate interventions in the 1970s, central banks became more inclined to preserve monetary stability through domestic monetary policy actions than through international policy coordination. as financial markets became more integrated because of technological developments and financial innovations, in the 1980s and 1990s central banks cooperated largely on development and introduction of international standards for prudential regulation and coordinated financial sector supervision. during the international financial crisis that started in 2007, central banks coordinated their efforts to fight systemic liquidity risks and, through monetary policy coordination, attempted to reduce the risk of deflation and prevent a deep global recession. cooperation among central banks is important both at a global and regional basis. cooperation is encouraged at a global level and carried out at a regional level to account for regional differences. in the case of emerging and developing economies, cooperation among central banks follows by and large policies agreed upon by multilateral institutions. the bank of international settlements is of course the best example of a global organization for discussion, consultation, and cooperation among central banks. meanwhile, cemla promotes cooperation between central banks on a regional level. in fact, as mentioned by javier guzman this morning, cemla has played a key role in the promotion of regional coordination through a

lopes, mrs. chaukos, and mr. cova. we encourage you to make the most of this opportunity to engage and interact with these experts. we will cap our day with presentations and a panel discussion on central bank digital currency ( cbdc ). new global or regional trends and policies have helped push innovation and technology to the forefront. an example of this is the increasing number of central banks carefully considering entering the cbdc space. we are excited to welcome mr. kiff, of the imf and one of the co - authors of the discussion note of the imf on the development and implementation of cbdc. mr. kiff will provide a short update of this important and dynamic discussion note. we will also have mrs. welsh provide an overview of the implementation of the cbdc by the eastern caribbean central bank, and subsequently, we will have mr. pietersz of the cbcs provide an overview of the status of our own consideration of cbdc. afterwards, mrs. luis of ibis management will share the results of a whitepaper issued on the potential implementation of a cbdc in curacao and sint maarten. let me say that we as regulators feel more vibrant than ever in our ability to keep evolving with the changes in our markets. ladies and gentlemen, once again i thank you for being here at the “ reinventing central banking : supporting inclusive growth and financial innovation ” conference of the cbcs. i wish you a successful second day of the conference and look forward to fruitful dialogue and discussion! thank you for your attention.