9th ASEAN Central Bank Heads of Internal Audit Network Meeting

Deputy Governor Doan Thai Son gives a speech at the meeting

Delivering his opening speech, Deputy Governor Doan Thai Son affirmed that, over the past time, the ASEAN Central Bank Heads of Internal Audit Network Meeting has created an information channel in order to update, share, discuss about the current situation, and improve the quality of the internal audits at the central banks. Several practical topics had been discussed in the previous meetings, helping the internal audit sections of the central banks to accomplish their assigned tasks.

Mr. Le Quoc Nghi, Director General of the SBV Internal Audit Department

This annual meeting was an opportunity for the ASEAN member states to get updated on the new international standards and practices; it was also a multi-dimensional dialogue channel with the leading experts on the central banks’ internal audit operations.

According to the SBV Deputy Governor, in the context of deep integration, with many big economic, political and social changes, ASEAN central banks have been facing a lot of challenges on the road to improving their governance and management capacity and ensuring their effective operations. Therefore, the central banks’ internal audits have to constantly improve and enhance their capacity, get updated with the internal standards and the new trends in order to help the central banks to accomplish their missions.

Mr. Rudy Wytenburd, IMF’s Expert

At the meeting, the participants engaged in sharing information and experiences on the 3 key thematic groups, including:

First, the new points in the set of standards for international internal audits issued in January 2024 and the key considerations for ASEAN central banks to ensure compliance with the set of standards for international internal audits when it officially takes effect in January 2025.

Second, auditing the implementation of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework.

Third, auditing the key pillars of the central banks: monetary policies, payment, supervision and inspection, and state reserve management.

These are all extremely important contents for the internal audits of the central banks in many countries in the current period.

The participants take a photo together

Especially, during the panel discussion at the meeting, the panelists shared their experience on the current situation, the risk assessments, and the development and implementation of audit plans for the central bank operations in each country in the current challenging context.

In addition, the participants also discussed about the new points and considerations for the central banks in implementing the 2024 international set of standards to ensure the quality of the internal audits; and a number of aspects in implementing and auditing the ESG framework to enhance the institutional capacity.

The shared and discussed substances at the meeting had helped to improve and promote the role of the central banks.

The Bank of the Lao PDR was agreed to be the host for the next 10th ASEAN Central Bank Heads of Internal Audit Network Meeting in 2025.

HY