This paper discusses key findings of the detailed assessment of observance of financial sector standards and codes in Switzerland. Switzerland has a relatively unique banking sector, with a high market concentration by the two largest domestic banks. The overall assessment of the peer-review...

To discipline managers, various governance measures are being developed. They include stock options, shareholder lawsuits, hostile takeovers, and outside directors. In the literature, some studies have found evidence supporting the introduction of these measures, but others have found evidence...

This report provides an assessment of the British Virgin Islands’s (BVI) compliance with the Basel Core Principle for effective banking supervision. The BVI has the preconditions for effective banking supervision. It has specific legislation governing international cooperation and mutual...

In contrast to corporate defaults, regulators typically take a number of statutory actions to avoid the large fiscal costs associated with bank defaults. The distance-to-default, a widely used market-based measure of corporate default risk, ignores such regulatory actions. To overcome this...

The paper analyzes the efficiency and profitability of Japanese banks from 2000-06. It uses a non-parametric approach, the data envelopment analysis (DEA) to analyze banks' cost and revenue efficiency. The results show that the performance of Japanese banks has steadily improved since 2001, but...

Soon after Korea agreed to an IMF-supported program, Seoul Bank and Korea First Bank were nationalized through an injection of public funds by the government. The two banks were singled out early in the IMF-supported program to be sold to foreign investors. Korea First Bank was sold to foreign...

This Selected Issues paper underlies the financial sector developments in Niger. The paper presents an overview of the financial sector of Niger and discusses the recent banking developments. It analyzes the recent trends in key microfinance indicators, and investigates reasons behind...

This Spillover Report analyses the potential channels of financial system spillovers in Japan that policymakers should keep in mind. The report also highlights some of the potential challenges faced by Japanese financial institutions in managing risks developed owing to overseas exposure. The...

This Selected Issues paper elaborates findings and discussions of 2013 Cluster Consultation Nordic Regional report. The countries have close economic and financial ties and face some common challenges and shared risks, such as large banking sectors and high household debt. The economic...