This Selected Issues paper and Statistical Appendix presents five essays examining issues in the United Arab Emirates related to the financial sector, long-term fiscal trends, fiscal sustainability, the competitiveness of the non-oil economy, and the labor market, as well as estimates of the...

This paper discusses a Detailed Assessment of the Observance of the IMF Code of Good Practices on Transparency in Monetary and Financial Policies (MFPT Code)—Banking Supervision for Italy. Banca d’Italia (BI) notes the assessment’s recognition of the very high degree of...

Algeria’s Financial System Stability Assessment highlights the Observance of Standards and Codes on monetary and financial policy transparency and banking supervision. Financial intermediation in Algeria will be bank-based in the future, and only politically difficult decisions to...

The literature stresses the importance of financial market characteristics in determining the supervisory architectures. In the real world it is not always clear to what extent market features are taken into account. We present two complementary approaches to gain insights in the above...

This paper investigates the role of creditor rights and information sharing in explaining why some financial markets in sub-Saharan Africa have remained shallow. The paper finds that while financial liberalization and macroeconomic stability promote financial deepening, they are not enough. For...

A survey of the financial systems of Caribbean countries reveals systems dominated by banks, with services widely available. Jamaica is the only country to have experienced a financial crisis. The paper describes recent improvements in the regulatory framework, and examines factors, which affect...

The paper provides an overview of the profound and rapid changes in banking brought about by technology and deregulation, and discusses the hurdles that will have to be negotiated for putting in place the three pillars-capital adequacy rules, supervision, and market discipline-of the bank...

We analyze the structure, performance, and role of banking systems in the three member countries of the East African Community-Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda-against the backdrop of recent financial sector reforms. Focusing on the behavior of different types of banks, we find no support for the...

This paper discusses issues of financial sector regulation and supervision--including those concerning nonbank financial intermediaries--in small resource-constrained Pacific island countries. It advocates stronger cooperation in these areas and calls for increased financial and technical...