Despite increased need for top-down stress tests of financial institutions, performing them is challenging owing to the absence of granular information on banks’ trading and loan portfolios. To deal with these data shortcomings, this paper presents a market-based structural top-down stress...

This paper considers the implementation challenges facing the Basel Committee’s new proposals on bank capital standards. When compared with the existing Capital Accord, the proposals represent a shift across two intersecting dimensions—regulatory versus economic capital, and rules-based...

For almost a decade, the IMF has been using stress tests to identify vulnerabilities across institutions that could undermine the stability of a country's financial system. This working paper focuses on the IMF's experience with stress testing in the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP)....

The paper discusses the limits to market-based risk transfer in the financial system and the implications for the management of systemic long-term financial risks. Financial instruments or markets to transfer and better manage these risks across institutions and sectors are, as yet, either...

Value-at-Risk (VaR) models often are used to estimate the equity investment that is required to limit the default rate on funding debt. Typical VaR "buffer stock" capital calculations produce biased estimates. To ensure accuracy, VaR must be modified by: (1) measuring loss relative to initial...

This paper assesses the financial sector regulation and supervision in Bermuda in the context of the offshore financial center assessment program. The assessment reveals that the financial, regulatory, and supervisory framework is well developed in banking, the key areas of securities...

This paper reviews Financial Sector Regulation and Supervision for Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI). The TCI has a structure for financial supervision that encompasses banking, insurance, mutual funds, investment brokers, trusts, trustees, companies’ registration, and company service...

Portfolio credit risk measurement is greatly affected by data constraints, especially when focusing on loans given to unlisted firms. Standard methodologies adopt convenient, but not necessarily properly specified parametric distributions or simply ignore the effects of macroeconomic shocks on...

This report is an analysis of the insurance core principles of Malaysia. This assessment gives a clear understanding of the regulatory and supervisory framework of the insurance sector of Malaysia. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) is the best insurance regulator in this region. Six percent of the...

This paper presents an assessment of Financial Sector Supervision and Regulation for Bermuda. The Bermudian authorities have made impressive progress in developing and implementing a risk-focused approach to supervision across the range of their sectoral supervisory responsibilities. Full...