The G20 is the group of the 20-leading industrialised and emerging economies, who account collectively for 85% of the world GDP and 2/3rds of the world population. (Telegraph, Jul 17)

In 2008, the G20 initiated a comprehensive programme of regulatory reforms to address the fault lines that caused the largest financial crisis since the Great Depression. The crisis led to a global recession whose effects are still being felt today. The cumulative loss of output since the crisis, compared to its pre-crisis trend, is of the order of 25% of one year’s world GDP. (FSB, Jun 17)

Since the global financial crisis, the G20 states have been working to strengthen the resilience of the global financial system and to improve the regulation and supervision of financial market participants. The aim is to ensure that no financial market, financial market participant or financial product remains unsupervised. Tax payers should never again have to foot the bill for bailing out financial market participants. Banks and other financial services providers therefore now have to hold more equity themselves. (The Federal Government)

At the Pittsburgh Summit, the Heads of State and Governments of the Group of Twenty agreed the creation of the Financial Stability Board (FSB). They endorsed the FSB’s original Charter of 25 September 2009 which set out the FSB’s key role in promoting the reform of international financial regulation. 

Figure 1: Composition of the Financial Stability Board