The study shows that the global financial crisis has adversely affected Kuwait’s financial system, especially in the Investment Company (IC) sector. Stress tests indicate that, in contrast to the ICs, the banking system could broadly withstand significant shocks. The Central Bank of...

This article summarizes the European Union’s stress testing exercises and future priorities. The 2011 solvency stress testing was marked by methodology and data. The exercise forced banks to increase the quality and quantity of capitalization. This test has many controversial issues, but...

Owing to the high dependence of its exports on countries and commodities, Finland experienced the worst recession in the euro area. Executive Directors encouraged authorities to focus on improving bank cost efficiency, preventing excessive risk taking, and limiting liquidity and funding risks....

This technical note on the Republic of Poland underlies the country’s credit, growth, and financial stability. A broad-based statistical and econometric analysis of financial and household balance sheet data implies that exchange rate-related credit risk and liquidity risk are currently...

This paper discusses key findings of the financial sector stability assessment for Romania. The assessment reveals that in recent years, Romania’s financial sector regulatory authorities have made significant progress in adopting international best practices, including through...

The Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region has weathered the global financial crisis reasonably well so far, although tighter global financial conditions began to take their toll on trade, capital flows and economic growth in late 2008. This resilience reflects the reforms put in place by many...

The causes of the global financial crisis were multi-faceted but revealed still unresolved weaknesses in national and international financial oversight and resolution frameworks. In particular, many governments in the crisis-hit countries had to provide unprecedented levels of support to contain...

DISCLAIMER: This Staff Discussion Note represents the views of the authors and does not necessarily represent IMF views or IMF policy. The views expressed herein should be attributed to the authors and not to the IMF, its Executive Board, or its management. Staff Discussion Notes are published...

The simultaneous unwinding of leveraged positions can trigger financial market turbulence. Although balance-sheet measures of leverage are available, it is useful to construct a measure of leverage that incorporates both on- and off-balance-sheet activities. This paper provides measures of...

This paper surveys dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models with financial frictions in use by central banks and discusses priorities for future development of such models for the purpose of monetary and financial stability analysis. It highlights the need to develop macrofinancial models...