The growing integration of capital markets has strengthened incentives for greater international coordination of economic and financial policies. Structural changes in these financial market, however, may have undermined the effectiveness of monetary and fiscal policy and complicated market...

Evidence from the past three years indicates that the exchange rate between the private ECU and the official ECU Basket can deviate substantially from par. The value of the private ECU is driven by expectations that a future European Central Bank will enforce par convertibility between the...

Properly designed wholesale payments system can make a significant contribution to enhancing market discipline in the financial sector, reducing the risk of systemic disturbance and permitting a less extensive safety net for financial institutions. The objective of these reforms has been to...

This paper reviews the ongoing efforts to reduce the risks inherent in the world’s principal wholesale payment systems. The paper assesses the major policy proposals to contain the growth in intraday credit exposures that arises in net settlement wholesale payment systems and in the real-time...

This study explores the industrial and developing countries use of capital controls since World War II, including their rationales for using them, and describes their experiences with relaxing controls as part of broader liberalization and structural reform efforts. The papers also outlines the...

This paper provides a description and analysis of recent developments in international capital (banking and bond) markets and an assessment of market conditions and prospects for financing flows, in particular