The Financial Stability Forum announced that it has decided to expand its membership to include all the members of the G20.

Following its meeting in London on March 11-12, the FSF said that it plans to to invite the G20 countries that are not currently in the FSF to join the group. This includes: Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey. In addition, Spain and the European Commission will also become FSF members.

“The broadening of the membership to include the G20 and other countries will enhance the FSF’s ability to contribute to ongoing reforms of the international financial system,” it said. “Alongside this expansion, we will be acting to strengthen the institutional foundations of the FSF, as well as its procedures and working methods to ensure continued effective functioning with a larger membership.”

Additionally, the FSF endorsed the statement by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision that recent market reactions regarding capital levels have been highly procyclical. “Members agreed with the Basel Committee’s decision not to increase global minimum capital requirements during this period of economic and financial stress,” it said.

At the meeting the FSF also discussed reports on procyclicality, compensation practices, cross-border crisis management, and progress in implementation of the FSF April 2008 recommendations. Reports on each of the topics will be published in the coming weeks, it said.

IE