Israel’s compliance with International Organization of Securities Commissions’ objectives and Principles of Securities Regulation has been assessed. The regulatory regime is well developed and in most respects is comparable with that of major jurisdictions. For the most part, it is...

This technical note assesses the reform of Spanish savings banks (SSBs). It provides a brief overview of the SSB institutional framework before the reform, and describes the main factors that led to the financial distress, albeit uneven, of the SSB sector. The note outlines major regulatory and...

The spectacular growth of many economies in East Asia over the past 30years has impressed the economics profession, which often refers to thesuccess of the so-called Four Tigers of the region (Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan Province of China) as ""miraculous."" This papercritically...

This paper examines episodes of the banking system distress and crisis in a large sample of countries. The empirical results identify several macroeconomic and financial variables as useful leading indicators. The main macroeconomic indicators were of limited value in predicting the Asian...

The resilience of the Czech financial system to macroeconomic shocks and structural weaknesses has strengthened considerably as a result of recent reform efforts. Stress tests indicate that the Czech banking system now shows only moderate vulnerability to market and credit risks. To enable more...

This paper discusses key findings of the Detailed Assessment of Observance of the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation–Government Securities Division’s Observance of the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems/International Organization of Securities Commissions (CPSS–IOSCO)...

Economic growth in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has been impressive with GDP. The dominance of foreign-owned bank subsidiaries has transformed the financial sector and altered the risks to financial stability. Reforms should focus on strengthening banking supervision and adapting it to the...

This paper presents key findings of Latvia’s Financial System Stability Assessment, including Reports on Observance of Standards and Codes on Banking Supervision; Payment Systems; Securities Regulation; Insurance Regulation; Corporate Governance; and Monetary and Financial Policy Transparency....

This paper presents key finding of the Financial System Stability Assessment for the Republic of Korea, including Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes on Monetary and Financial Policy Transparency, Banking Supervision, Securities Regulation, Insurance Regulation, Corporate...