This paper illustrates how stress tests of banking systems may be designed to evaluate banks' reaction to shocks of increasing intensity, up to the point where regulatory norms are breached, or banks become insolvent. This approach offers useful insight and guidance for regulatory policy and...

Recent financial sector crises and their resolution have raised new issues and provided additional experiences to draw on in the future. Banking sector problems in Russia, Turkey, and a few Latin American countries occurred within the context of highly dollarized economies, high levels of...

The financial turmoil of the late 1990s prompted a broad search for tools and techniques for detecting and preventing financial crises, and more recent episodes of instability have high lighted the importance of continuous monitoring of financial systems as a tool for preventing crises. This...

This Financial System Stability Assessment on Kuwait reviews the macroeconomic environment and gives an overview of the financial system. Financial stability has been effectively supported by prudent fiscal and monetary policies. The banking sector appears sound and is well regulated and...

This paper discusses key findings of the Financial System Stability Assessment on Banking Supervision, Insurance Supervison, Securities Regulation, and Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism for Greece. The Greek financial sector appears largely sound and resilient to...

The 2001 financial system stability assessment identified risks of financial sector instability, as rapid increases in foreign and domestic currency indebtedness, accumulating external imbalances, and inflation accompanied Iceland's expansion of the late 1990s. The insurance sector, composed of...

This paper assesses Uruguay’s Seventh Review Under the Stand-By Arrangement and Request for Waiver of Nonobservance of Performance Criterion. The favorable program results reflect prudent macroeconomic policies and important banking reforms, although progress with other structural reforms...

This paper examines Uruguay’s Fourth Review Under the Stand-By Arrangement and Requests for Modification of the Arrangement. The macroeconomic framework is broadly on track, but progress with structural reform has lagged. With regard to the quantitative performance criteria, there was a...

The staff paper for the Third Review Under the Stand-By Arrangement on Paraguay focuses on the macroeconomic framework and medium-term scenario, risks, and capacity to repay the IMF. There have been delays in implementing some structural measures, especially related to the approval of banking...