The APEC Finance Ministers' Process (FMP) has served as a forum for APEC member economies to address regional macroeconomic and financial issues as well as domestic and regional financial policy priorities.

APEC Leaders established the FMP during their first meeting in 1993 to consult on broad economic issues and jointly address economic challenges facing the region.

Finance Ministers have met annually since 1994, most recently in October 2018 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Prior to each Finance Ministers’ Meeting (FMM), Finance and Central Bank Deputies and Senior Finance Officials gather to consult on the priorities for the coming year and finalize the deliverables for Ministers to endorse.

The strategic goals of the FMP are to promote sound and credible policies for:

• Sustainable, inclusive and broad-based growth and development in the APEC region;
• Macroeconomic stability in the APEC region;
• Prudent public finance management;
• Good corporate governance;
• Stable and efficient financial markets;
• Greater economic cooperation, integration, and openness among APEC economies; and
• Facilitation of economic and technical cooperation within the region in pursuit of the above goals

The FMP works closely with the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and the following key external partners:

• Asian Development Bank (ADB)
• Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)
• International Monetary Fund (IMF)
• Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
• World Bank Group (WBG)

2019 FMP Activities

In support of Chile’s theme, “Connecting People, Building the Future,” the FMP identified four priority areas and main activities in the 2019 FMP Workplan:

• Boosting integration on financial markets through the digital economy:  
• APEC Economic Policy Report (AEPR) on Structural Reform and Digital Economy, which will be supported by the Economic Committee (EC).
• Policy Discussion Seminar on FinTech and RegTech in APEC Economies.

• Financial Inclusion: closing the gap through digitalization:
• Workshop on Credit Reporting Systems in the Age of Digital Economy and New Technologies, and its Impacts on Financial Inclusion
• OECD International Network on Financial Education Report on Financial Education in APEC Economies
• Asia-Pacific Financial Forum (APFF) FinTech Seminar Enabling Innovative Finance for SMEs in the Digital Economy
• Deliver the Financial Inclusion Capacity Building Package
• Approval of the APEC Roadmap on Digital Financial inclusion

• Financial management of disaster risks: mitigation and resilience:
• Enhancing Financial Risk Management Against Disasters Seminar
• Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (DRFI) Study Course
• Seminar on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Factors in Financial Markets
• WBG (potentially WBG/OECD) Report on Financing Resilience of Infrastructure and an OECD/ADB Report on the Implications of Technology and Innovation for Disaster Risk Management and Financing

• Implementing the Cebu Action Plan:
• Support efforts on advancing in the implementation of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Package and enhancing Tax Certainty, Transparency and Cooperation among APEC economies.
• Second APEC/OECD Package on Selected Effective Approaches to Financing Infrastructure in APEC Economies

Key Dates of APEC FMP Meetings in 2019