The Group of Thirty, established in 1978, is a private, nonprofit, international body composed of very senior representatives of the private and public sectors and academia. It aims to deepen understanding of international economic and financial issues, to explore the international repercussions of decisions taken in the public and private sectors, and to examine the choices available to market practitioners and policymakers.

The Group's members meet in plenary sessions twice a year with select guests to discuss important economic, financial and policy developments. They reach out to a wider audience in seminars and symposia.  Of most importance to our membership and supporters is the annual (invitation-only) International Banking Seminar.

The Group of Thirty also enters the policy debate on important issues by publishing papers.  When the Group considers that its objectives would be furthered by more detailed work, it establishes study groups or committees, which may include both members and non-members, through our work program.

Our publications began with our first Occasional Paper in 1980 and continues to the present. Areas of recent focus by the Group have included:

• Reinsurance.  This study group explained the functioning of the reinsurance markets and assessed whether a sudden large scale failure of reinsurance companies would impact the wider economy.
  
  
• Global Clearing and Settlement.  The Group has a longstanding interest in the reform and modernization of the clearing and settlement system, starting in 1988 with a review of the U.S. system and recommendations for reform .  In 2003 the Group published 20 recommendations for reform of the global clearing and settlement system.  In 2006 we published an update on the progress we have seen in the implementation of those 20 reforms across the globe.



• Public Confidence in Financial Reporting.  The Group issued a report that included a series of best practices regarding the use of fair values in the preparation of financial statements; and a set of guiding principles.

In addition to the above the Group has over the decades published scores of careful analyses on a range of financial issues of importance to the global financial and central banking communities, many of which continue to be of use to policymakers, practitioners and academics, such as our seminal analysis and explanation of the derivatives market.  For those who wish to learn more please see our publications list.

The Group is supported by contributions from private sources: foundations, banks, non-bank corporations, central banks, and individuals. A list of contributors in cash and kind for the fiscal years appear in the Group's annual report.

Associate Director
Dawn A. Hewitt

Research and Business Manager
Nicole Firment