, especially for countries with fixed exchange rates and for emerging economies. it's also important to focus on global imbalances. if we accept, as seems to be the current consensus, that these imbalances were one of the structural causes of the crisis, and given that you cannot have a world without imbalances, what can we do to ensure that the world is in a better position to minimise imbalances, and to the extent that they exist, to manage them. cb : what do you think is the right forum in which to conduct this debate? ds : several international fora are appropriate. there is the imf, the bis's bi - monthly meetings and the very effective g20. important topics such as this must be discussed at all these fora. and i believe that they are likely to be discussed for much longer than we think before we reach an agreed view on a minimum acceptable programme. cb : the first official summit of bric leaders recently took place in russia. how do you view the relationship between yourself and your brazilian, russian and chinese counterparts? ds : as a first point, bric is a goldman sachs acronym that emerged out of some similarities between the brazilian, russian, indian and chinese economies, which are growing rapidly and have an increasing influence on global growth. since goldman sachs came up with that, these economies have had different developments, including in terms of the impact that the crisis has had on each of them. it has been useful for central bank governors and finance ministers to meet at international fora to have a shared understanding on some of the issues that are common to us, such as a common minimum programme on regulation, the management and the governance of bretton woods institutions. cb : i see your point about bric being a construct of goldman sachs, but i've also heard people say that if it didn't exist then somebody would have to invent it. ds : i would think that there are enough similarities that it is worthwhile discussing policy responses together. not on all issues. but to the extent that we are seen as large, highgrowth countries, and as contributors to incremental global growth, we have issues in which we have a common interest. it is not as though we must have a common view on every issue that emerges in international fora. but i believe that the consultation has so far been value adding. the four of us saying something collectively has absolutely more clout than if we say

. in other words, the framework for mitigating conflicting interests should be constructed inside - out, from the core point of an individual's value - oriented personality to an outer layer of enabling environment, through all possible means available to your profession. the conflict mitigation process, at its absolute broadest, should strike a reasonable balance that helps guard against present and future problems of conflicts of interest while preserving those traits of your profession which are the source of its creative and competitive genius. sometimes, due to certain professional / personal problems or set - backs, one may not be able to focus fully on one ’ s profession. that is quite understandable, but the touchstone is as to whether, over one ’ s entire career, one has been able to constantly deliver to the highest bis central bankers ’ speeches standards of professional excellence which is achieved through high levels of knowledge and skills coupled with an unshakable sense of values and ethics. another important aspect is that the top professionals in high positions should be very measured in their talk and behaviour, because they are looked upon as role models for the profession in particular and the society in general. ( d ) conflicts of interest and finance professionals – an uneasy relationship in contemporary times, especially since the onset of the present ongoing crisis in 2008, among the professions – finance related professionals have been in the limelight due to all the wrong reasons. in the period immediately prior to 2008, the continuous saga of financial scandals involving high profile companies like enron, worldcom, arthur andersen, tyco in usa ; ahold, parmalat in europe, citi bank's activities in europe and japan, bnp paribas are still fresh in one's memory. more recently, those involving j p morgan, standard chartered, hsbc in the international arena serve as examples. the recent episodes of proven transgressions by some of our banks also raise concerns and highlight the critical role of ethics in business. in all these cases, expert observers have concluded that the role of the finance professionals and, more importantly, their exploitation of conflicts of interests as being at or near the centre of such scandal - driven financial storms. conflicts of interest, of late, have reappeared in our public discourse. it is alleged that, we in india, are not appreciative enough of the world of conflicts of interests. it is also argued that we do not appreciate the separation of roles and responsibilities of our private and public lives ; and that we freely