Austria’s Financial System Stability Assessment highlights Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes on banking supervision, securities regulation, and insurance regulation. The banking sector has weathered the recent economic slowdown well, and is generally sound and resilient....

The paper analyzes the effects of strategic behavior by an insider in a price discovery process, akin to an information tatonnement, in the presence of a competitive informed sector. Such processes are used in the preopening period of continuous trading systems in several exchanges. It is found...

This assessment of the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision has been completed as part of the IMF Offshore Financial Center (OFC) assessment program. First, the assessment benchmarks the current state of banking supervision, recognizing that there have been extensive changes...

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...

The Detailed Assessments of the Observance of Standards and Codes on France reviews compliance with Basel Core Principles for effective banking supervision. The French insurance market is notable for its broad range of distribution channels, which include tied agents, insurance brokers, salaried...

The completion of the detailed assessment serves several purposes. First, it benchmarks the current state of banking supervision, recognizing that there have been extensive changes in the last years. Second, it suggests a number of further improvements or changes. Thus, this report provides a...

This paper presents key findings of the Financial System Stability Assessment for the Russian Federation. There are significant vulnerabilities and weaknesses in the financial sector, although given its small size, the macroeconomy would be relatively little affected by the immediate impact of...

Weaknesses in the enforcement of regulation have been targeted by the G-20 as a priority concern for reform. But enforcement efforts in securities markets have proven difficult and uneven. The recent scandal in the United States, wherein a Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Bernard Madoff went...

This paper assesses countries' compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) international standard during the period 2004 to 2011. We find that overall compliance is low; there is an adverse impact on financial transparency created by the...