Governor Nicholl in Vienna

The Governor of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CBBH) Peter Nicholl participated in the 10th International Financial and Economic Forum in Vienna on 11 November, 2004.

The Governor was part of a panel of central bankers who discussed the issue of the 'interaction between monetary and budget policy'. The panel also included representatives of the European Central bank, the Bundesbank, the Austrian National Bank, the Swedish Central Bank and the National Bank of Serbia.

The Governor also met with officials of the Austrian Financial Market Authority. He advised them that draft changes to the CBBH Law were under discussion that would bring the banking supervision function in BiH into the CBBH next year.

He also discussed the remaining steps that needed to be carried out in order for the banking supervisors in BiH and Austria to sign a formal Memorandum of Cooperation. Governor Nicholl told the Austrian Financial Market Authority that given the significant role played by Austrian-owned banks in BiH, the banking supervisory authorities in BiH wanted to complete this agreement as soon as possible.

Governor Nicholl also met with the Director of the Joint Vienna Institute. This Institute provides a wide range of training courses for officials of central banks and finance ministries in the transition countries.

During 2004, the CBBH sent nine staff members on short-term training courses at the JVI. The Director told Mr. Nicholl that they were pleased with the number of participants they received from the CBBH but that few other institutions in BiH used the training facilities of the JVI. She asked Mr. Nicholl to try and persuade other BiH institutions to use the JVI for training purposes because their courses are high-quality and low cost.