The G-20 leaders' commitment that all standardised over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives will be centrally cleared by the end of 2012 is intended to increase the safety and resilience of the global financial system. Achieving these objectives depends importantly on the arrangements through which...

Executive summary Observed trends in institutional investors' behaviour Institutional investors are becoming more important in global financial markets, with their assets under management rapidly catching up with those of the banking system. Institutional investors help to ensure deeper and...

Introduction Local currency bond markets can help financial stability by reducing currency mismatches and lengthening the duration of debt. Such markets also help economic efficiency by generating market-determined interest rates that reflect the opportunity costs of funds at different...

Executive summary At its meeting in November 2004, the Committee on the Global Financial System (CGFS) established a Working Group under the chairmanship of Mr Lars Nyberg of Sveriges Riksbank to study recent changes in housing finance systems as part of the Committee's ongoing work to guard...

Papers in this volume were prepared for a meeting of senior officials from central banks held at the Bank for International Settlements in December 2001.

The Asian financial crisis in 1997 revealed important deficiencies in the monitoring of short-term external debt, often the most important and also most volatile component of countries' external obligations. As underlined in the report prepared by the Working Group on Capital Flows of the...

This Guide to the international banking statistics is intended to serve two main purposes: firstly, to provide reporting countries with definitions and guidelines for the reporting of data; secondly, to give a detailed account of current country practices regarding the coverage and disaggregation...

The papers in this volume were presented and discussed at the Autumn Central Bank Economists' Meeting held at the BIS on 15-16 October 2001. The meeting focused on recent changes in market functioning and their impact on central bank policy. A number of structural developments seem to have had a...

During the 1990s, a number of countries successfully achieved low and stable inflation. Part of the decline reflects the large and negative output gaps in the early 1990s and favourable supply shocks later in the decade. However, inflation has remained relatively subdued as economic conditions...