Foreign exchange reserves are an integral part of the policy toolkit in African countries. Based on a survey of African central banks, this paper relates the reasons for holding reserves to some of the economic circumstances in their countries. It also discusses how African central banks address...

Foreign exchange (FX) reserves are an integral part of emerging market (EME) central banks' policy toolkit. They insure against shocks and complement monetary policy to achieve price and financial stability. But building and holding FX reserves is costly. Drawing on a recent survey of 21 EME...

Post-crisis reforms aim to mitigate the systemic risks that arise from global systemically important banks (G-SIBs). Based on our estimates of G-SIBs' probability of distress, we find that their resilience has improved in recent years on the back of higher capital ratios. Furthermore, by...

Increasing demand for collateral assets in the aftermath of the financial crisis has raised concerns about a shortage of high-quality assets (HQA). Drawing on a recent report by the Committee on the Global Financial System, we argue that such concerns seem unjustified. In aggregate, the increase...