These Technical Notes on France explain integration of global financial markets. The stress tests for the France Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) were designed to yield as comprehensive and detailed a picture as possible within the constraints of the approach. Retail activity by...

The Fund has made good progress over the past two years in integrating macrofinancial analysis into Article IV surveillance for a wide range of members. Building on past work to enhance financial sector analysis, Fund staff has sought to develop a consistent and forward-looking view on how the...

Financial integration is likely to entail EEC-wide convergence in both inflation rates and bank reserve requirements, thereby lowering some governments’ seignorage revenues. These revenue losses, however, may be offset by concomitant effects on exchange rate expectations and on interest rates...

This paper describes a financial system that should be adopted for the 21st century. The paper highlights that the financial crisis of 2008 has raised fundamental questions about how the financial industry is structured, managed, and regulated. The paper discusses that a well-functioning...

This paper provides a survey of some issues concerning the evolution of the European Monetary System (EMS) in the context of increasingly integrated financial markets. It reviews the objectives of the EMS, its institutional structure, its perceived impact on key macroeconomic variables, and some...

By and large, EU financial integration has been a success story. Still, the reform agenda is far from finished. What are the remaining challenges going forward? What are the gains of closer financial market integration? This IMF book tracks the European Union's journey along the path to a single...

This technical note is based on a mission conducted from April 24 to May 9, 2014 to Kingston and other parts of Jamaica. The mission also conducted a short mystery shopping exercise with the assistance of a representative from the national consumer’s league. Valuable comments on the draft note...

Rapid advances in financial technology are transforming the economic and financial landscape, offering wide-ranging opportunities while raising potential risks. Fintech can support potential growth and poverty reduction by strengthening financial development, inclusion, and efficiency-but it may...

This note addresses key issues with respect to trade policy in financial services and its linkages to capital flows, and prudential regulations and supervision under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), preferential trade agreements (PTAs), and bilateral investment treaties (BITs)....

State-owned financial institutions fall into three main groups: commercial banks, hybrid banks, and development institutions. The larger state-owned commercial banks/ groups include Sberbank, the VTB Bank group, and Gazprombank. Like private commercial banks, these institutions do not have a...