SUBARJO JOYOSUMARTO Executive Director of SEACEN INTERVIEW

he 14-member Southeast Asian Central Banks (SEACEN) Research and Training Center was set up in 1982 to serve the community of central bankers in the Asia-Pacific region by helping bank staff hone their analytical skills and by encouraging networking among central bankers in the region.

Since 2001, the center, which is located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has focused on training in the areas that have practical applications in central banking, such as monetary policy, banking supervision, payments and settlement systems. But networking, says SEACEN Executive Director Dr. Subarjo Joyosumarto (INTERVIEW), remains a key aspect of the center’s activities.

“Being clustered in the same region and having comparable economic structures, the economies are by and large faced with the same problems. The Asian financial crisis showed that problems could quickly spread from one economy to another. Being small and open, it is mutually beneficial and more effective to talk to one another,” he explains.

To date, the center has organized 277 training activities, comprising 122 courses, 98 seminars and 57 workshops. More than 7,000 officials of central banks in the Asia-Pacific region have attended its training courses.

The center also works closely with the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council by sending senior central bank officials to the United States to meet with bankers and policymakers. “The topics are mostly about transparency and regulating. The people we send there are decision-makers and future central bank leaders,” notes Dr. Subarjo. “We send them to the policy makers to see how the U.S. Treasury makes policies and they go to the private sector like Citibank to see how the policies are implemented.”

Dr. Subarjo says the main challenge today is uncertainty in the global market. “When the 1997 Asian financial crisis happened, some of the banks were not ready. Our future plan is focused on a higher quality of central bankers that can face any difficulties like external shocks,” he concludes.