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G7 finance ministers to discuss banking reforms G7 finance ministers meet amid Japan currency questions
(about 21 hours later)
Finance ministers from the G7 group of industrialised nations are set to begin a two-day meeting on Friday. Finance ministers from the G7 group of industrialised nations are meeting amid questions over Japan's monetary policy.
Banking reforms will be top of the agenda at the meeting, which is being held close to London. The two-day meeting outside London is being chaired by UK Chancellor George Osborne, who said the focus would be on "how to nurture the recovery".
March's emergency rescue of Cyprus will still be fresh in ministers' minds. But Japan's efforts to boost growth are likely to be high on the agenda, along with global banking reforms.
The meeting is a rarity, because in recent years the G7 have tended to get together on the sidelines of the G20 and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings. Earlier this year Japan announced massive stimulus measures that have driven down the value of its currency.
The G7 is comprised of the United States, Germany, Japan, the UK, Italy, France and Canada. That has raised questions about whether the country is directly targeting its exchange rate in order to boost exports.
UK Chancellor George Osborne, who will be chairing the meeting, said: "We will be talking about how to nurture the recovery. International agreements designed to prevent currency wars say that exchange rates should be set by the market.
Japan's central bank governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, denied the bank was targeting currency rates.
But US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said the US would "keep an eye" on the yen, now at a four-year low against the dollar.
Mr Osborne, who will be chairing the meeting alongside Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King, said: "We will be talking about how to nurture the recovery.
"There is no doubt that there is greater stability - and that is reflected in financial markets - than perhaps there was last year.""There is no doubt that there is greater stability - and that is reflected in financial markets - than perhaps there was last year."
The meeting will give Mr Osborne the chance to meet with the man he has chosen as the next governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, who is due to step down as the head of Canada's central bank at the beginning of June. He also suggested that greater "activism" on the part of governments and central banks may be called for.
Mr Carney will replace Sir Mervyn King, who is stepping down as governor of the Bank of England after 10 years. The chancellor has faced pressure recently over the pace of the UK's austerity measures.
'Photo opportunity'
The G7 group represents more than 66% of net global wealth ($223 trillion; £144tn), according to the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report, published in September.
The meeting will be informal and there will be no communiqué.
The rise of emerging markets heavyweights such as Brazil, China and India has meant that the G20 meetings are seen as being much more important than the G7, in terms of formulating global financial policies and reforms.
"As often is the case, the G7 is a photo opportunity. But it's important that it stays together as a forum to address the issues," said Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York.
One official told Reuters that this meeting was unnecessary because the talks could have taken place on the sidelines of the IMF's meetings in Washington in mid-April.