The meeting took place hot on the heels of last Friday's (7 November) extraordinary EU summit in Brussels, where EU leaders presented a united front on restructuring the global financial system.
Emerging economies seek a stronger role
G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Sao Paulo resolved to restore stability and confidence to the world economy, and also pushed for a more prominent role for emerging economies like Brazil, China, India and Russia.
Indeed, the latter are calling for wholesale reform of global financial institutions, affording them stronger representation within the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stressed the need for new universal mechanisms, claiming that the leadership role commanded by the G7 group (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US) was outdated and could no longer work alone.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick also called for a modernisation of the multilateral system of governance to bring on board "developing country voices such as Brazil".
The IMF: A stronger role, but how much stronger?
Reforming the IMF was a recurring theme in both Sao Paulo and Brussels, though it remains unclear how this will be achieved. The G20 meeting confirmed that the IMF should play a leading role in any restructuring of the global financial architecture, "within its mandate".
In one scenario currently being explored, the IMF could be recast as a bona fide global financial regulator. However, EU nations are calling for a "college of supervisors" for global financial institutions to be established.
In their summit conclusions, G20 finance ministers said that any overhaul of the IMF needed to "adequately reflect changing economic weights in the world economy and be more responsive to future challenges".
The IMF has already bolstered its "early warning capabilities" to identify and respond rapidly to future financial crises, according to its managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
