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Financial authorities face a number of key challenges, including maintaining financial stability; ensuring long-term finance for stable economic growth; promoting greater access to financial services for both households and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); and fostering a competitive financial industry. Access to finance for SMEs is particularly important, given their large shares in economic activity and employment in Asian economies. Striking the appropriate balance in achieving these objectives through financial supervision and regulation is an important policy issue for financial regulators. This book is the record of a joint conference in 2014 organized by the Asian Development Bank Institute; Financial Services Agency, Japan; and International Monetary Fund Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific on the topic of financial system stability, regulation, and financial inclusion. Participants included noted scholars, policymakers, and financial industrial participants from Asia.

ADB Institute

The ADB Institute, located in Tokyo, is the think tank of the Asian Development Bank. Its mission is to identify effective development strategies and improve development management in ADB´s developing member countries.

Financial Services Agency, Japan

The Financial Services Agency, Japan is responsible for ensuring the stability of Japan´s financial system, the protection of depositors, insurance policyholders and securities investors, and smooth finance through such measures as planning and policymaking.

International Monetary Fund Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific

The International Monetary Fund Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific contributes to economic surveillance and research, leads the IMF´s involvement in regional cooperation, manages regional capacity building programs, and promotes the understanding and two-way dialogue of the IMF in the region.

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Welcoming Remarks (Hiroshi Okada).- Session 1: Financial System Stability and Competition in the Financial Industry .- Keynote Speech: Current Situation, Challenges and Future of Regional Finance in Japan (Hisashi Ono).- Session 2: Finance to SMEs through Banks, Capital Markets and Other Financial Methods .- Session 3: Financial Inclusion and Financial Education .- Session 4: Panel Discussion: Finance to Ensure Asia´s Economic Growth.- Closing Remarks (Masahiro Kawai).

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