The paper analyses the structure of returns comovements and the volatility spillovers among the African stock markets using daily data for the period 2000-2010. We particularly focus on two issues: whether the stock markets of countries with close trading and financial links are more...

In this letter a series of stylized facts are presented on competition in Irish private sector lending markets across periods of both significant economic expansion and decline. Firstly, concentration of lending to the private sector is shown to have fallen during the boom period of 2004-2008,...

The paper aims to analyze the reasons why monetary policy is put into question by the transformations suffered during the recent decades by the financial systems of advanced industrial countries. It also seeks to highlight opportunities for improving monetary policy and its instruments, in...

In this paper we introduce and discuss the three drivers of recent intensive payment systems reforms globally in the last 5 years in the process of implementing safe and efficient payment systems. We define the first driver as the strong domestic demand for financial stability and better...

Analysis of the characteristics and structure of a network of financial institutions can provide insight into the complex relationships and interdependencies that exist in a payment, clearing, and settlement system (PCSS), and allow an intuitive understanding of the PCSS's efficiency, stability,...

This paper examines the impact of macroeconomic and financial sector policy announcements in the United States, the United Kingdom, the euro area, and Japan during the recent crisis on interbank credit and liquidity risk premia. Announcements of interest rate cuts, liquidity support, liability...

This paper provides evidence that central bank interventions had a statistically significant impact on easing stress in unsecured interbank markets during the first phase of the subprime crisis which began in July 2007. Extraordinary liquidity provisions, such as the Term Auction Facility by the...

This study empirically analyzes the determinants of bond market development in a cross section of 23 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries between 1990 and 2008. It considers the stage of development and the size of the bond market, as well as the historical, structural, institutional and...

After reviewing the economic reform strategy of Mauritius for the past 10 years in the face of several external shocks, we apply a balance sheet analysis (BSA) focusing on currency, maturity, and intersectoral mismatches. In reviewing developments over this decade, we find that the currency and...

The global financial crisis revealed weaknesses in the stress testing exercises performed on financial institutions and systems around the world. These failures were most evident in the area of liquidity risk, where now-obvious vulnerabilities were left largely undetected, with stress tests...