International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
This paper focuses on the report on Belgium’s Financial Sector Assessment Program. Economic activity has slowed, core inflation remains high, and the fiscal outlook is challenging. The financial sector has remained resilient despite a series of shocks. Key financial stability risks emanate from the large, concentrated, and interconnected banking sector, private sector indebtedness, and high exposure to real estate. Bank solvency stress tests indicate that the financial sector is resilient under severe macroeconomic shocks. Although there is some heterogeneity across financial institutions, all banks would satisfy the minimum capital criteria. The authorities should enhance the National Bank of Belgium’s powers to set macroprudential policy in line with its financial stability mandate. In the near term, the extension/ setting of capital requirements should be streamlined, without the requirement for government approval. There is scope to strengthen the corporate governance framework and expectations for banks, and boost prudential supervisory staffing, especially given upcoming regulatory developments.
Mr. Marc G Quintyn, Ms. Rosaria Vega Pansini, and Donato Masciandaro
The Asian financial crisis marked the beginning of worldwide efforts to improve the effectiveness of financial supervision. However, the crisis that started in 2007?08 was a crude awakening: several of these improvements seemed unable to avoid or mitigate the crisis. This paper brings the first systematic analysis of the role of two of these efforts - modifications in the architecture of financial supervision and in supervisory governance - and concludes that they were negatively correlated with economic resilience. Using the emerging distinction between macro- and micro-prudential supervision, we explore to what extent two separate institutions would allow for more checks and balances to improve supervisory governance and, thus, reduce the probability of supervisory failure.
Mr. Marc G Quintyn, Donato Masciandaro, and Ms. María Nieto
In June 2009 a new financial supervisory framework for the European Union (EU) was endorsed, consisting of a macro- and a micro-prudential pillar. The latter is composed of a Steering Committee, a supranational layer and a network of national supervisory authorities at the bottom, de facto establishing a complex multiple principals-multiple agents network. This paper focuses on the network of national agencies. Starting from an analysis of supervisory architectures and governance arrangements, we assess to what extent lack of convergence could undermine efficient and effective supervision. The main conclusion is that harmonization of governance arrangements towards best practice would better align supervisors' incentive structures and, hence, be beneficial for the quality of supervision.
This paper presents key findings of the Financial System Stability Assessment for the Slovak Republic, including Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes on Monetary and Financial Policy Transparency, and Banking Supervision. Successful stabilization and an ambitious structural reform program since 1998 and the rehabilitation and privatization of the public banks in the Slovak Republic have produced a banking and financial sector that appears to be robust to a range of macroeconomic or financial sector shocks. Banking supervision is weak, but the National Bank of Slovakia has launched a medium-term program to strengthen it.
This paper presents key findings of Latvia’s Financial System Stability Assessment, including Reports on Observance of Standards and Codes on Banking Supervision; Payment Systems; Securities Regulation; Insurance Regulation; Corporate Governance; and Monetary and Financial Policy Transparency. The assessment reveals that the banking system of Latvia is well capitalized, profitable, and liquid following its recovery from the effects of the Russian crisis in 1998. A notable feature of the financial system is the significant share of nonresident deposits and foreign equity in the banking system and nonresident investment in the securities market.