The papers in this volume are based on the presentations made at the ninth biennial seminar for legal advisers of central banks, 24 May - 4 June 2004, held by the Legal Department and the Institute of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The seminar covered a broad range of topics: activities of the IMF; sovereign debt restructuring; money laundering and the financing of terrorism; financial system and banking supervision; conflicts of interest and market discipline in the financial sector; insolvency.