The Bank of the Lao PDR held a banking-sector technical seminar bringing together more than 300 participants from government bodies, international organisations and the financial industry to share macroeconomic and policy information and exchange views on recent economic and financial challenges, including online financial fraud. Participants included representatives from the Asian Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, alongside commercial banks, financial institutions and payment service providers. The programme featured three panel discussions covering maintaining the value of the Lao kip and participatory foreign-exchange management, the policy direction for supervising bank and non-bank financial institutions, and modernising payment operations while strengthening cybersecurity; the half-day event was also framed as part of activities ahead of an upcoming fifth congress of the Bank’s party committee.