Lecce Framework
From Riski
The Lecce Framework was agreed upon during a meeting of the G-8 finance ministers and central bank governors, held in Lecce, Italy on June 12-13, 2009. It is expected to outline a set of common principles and standards regarding the conduct of international business and finance.
G8 Finance Ministers announced their endorsement of a global regulatory framework for financial institutions worldwide, "We agreed to create a coherent framework which builds on work done by the IMF, World Bank, OECD, FSB, FATF, and other international organizations, to strengthen the global market system." the G8 said in a statement on Saturday.
"To ensure effectiveness, we will make every effort to pursue maximum country participation and swift and resolute implementation. We have agreed on the objectives of a strategy, "the Lecce Framework", to create a comprehensive framework, building on existing initiatives, to identify and fill regulatory gaps and foster the broad international consensus needed for rapid implementation."
The Lecce Framework: Common Principles and Standards for Propriety, Integrity and Transparency
The Lecce Framework recognizes that there is a wide range of instruments, both existing and under development, which have a common thread related to propriety, integrity and transparency and classifies them into five categories:
- --- Corporate governance
- --- Market integrity
- --- Financial regulation and supervision
- --- Tax cooperation
- --- Transparency of macroeconomic policy and data
Specific issues covered include, inter alia, executive compensation, regulation of systemically important institutions, credit rating agencies, accounting standards, the cross-border exchange of information, bribery, tax havens, non-cooperative jurisdictions, money laundering and the financing of terrorism, and the quality and dissemination of economic and financial data.
International institutions and fora have already developed a significant body of work addressing a number of important issues in these areas, but, in many cases, the initiatives suffer from insufficient country participation and/or commitment.
