International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
This paper presents a technical note on Financial Supervision and Regulation of Climate Related issues in Japan. Japan's transition to a net zero economy requires the decarbonization of high-greenhouse gas intensive industrial sectors such as steel. The Japanese authorities have been working on a number of climate-related activities relevant to banks and insurers. Banks and insurers have identified transition and physical risks as potential sources of increasing credit risk, market risk, liquidity risk, operational risk, and reputational risk. Discussions with Financial Services Agency (FSA) supervisory staff revealed that there is yet to be a systematic approach to addressing climate issues in regular supervisory interactions with banks and insurers. The Climate Guidance sets out the FSA’s expectations for financial institutions to support clients’ and investees’ responses to climate change in order to manage financial institutions’ climate-related risks. Japan is leading the way in the implementation of climate-related disclosures.
International Monetary Fund. Institute for Capacity Development
This supplement includes five background papers and provides background information on various aspects of capacity development (CD) for the main Board paper, Review of the Fund’s Capacity Development Strategy—Towards a More Flexible, Integrated, and Tailored Model. It is divided into five sections, each consisting of a different background paper. The five sections cover (1) CD Delivery Modalities; (2) Evaluation and Impact; (3) Regional Capacity Development Centers and Field Presence; (4) HR Policies; and (5) Mapping the Fund’s Position vis-à -vis Other CD Providers.
This paper aims to address questions by Fund members on how to respond to the rise of crypto assets and the associated risks. To frame the discussion, the paper defines and classifies crypto assets based on their underlying features and describes their purported benefits and potential risks. The paper presents a policy framework for crypto assets that aims to achieve key policy objectives such as macroeconomic stability, financial stability, consumer protection, and market and financial integrity. The framework outlines key elements that are necessary to ensure that these objectives are met. However, such a framework will not fix any underlying crypto design flaws (for instance, the lack of a credible nominal anchor, payments finality, or scalability).
This note explains the value of strategic foresight and provides implementation advice based on the IMF’s experience with scenario planning and policy gaming. Section II provides an overview of strategic foresight and some of its tools. Scenario planning and policy gaming have been the Fund’s main foresight techniques so far, though other tools have been complementary. Accordingly, section III focuses on the scenario planning by illustrating applications before detailing the methods we have been using, while section IV describes policy gaming including the matrix policy gaming approach with which we have experimented so far. Section V summarizes the key points. In so doing, the note extends an invitation to those in the economics and finance fields (e.g., researchers, policymakers) to incorporate strategic foresight in their analysis and decision making.
Ljubica Dordevic, Caio Ferreira, Moses Kitonga, and Katharine Seal
The paper employs two complementary strategies. First, it is pursues textual analysis (text mining) of the assessment reports to identify successes and challenges the authorities are facing. Second, it analyzes the grades in the Basel Core Principles assessments, including their evolution and association with bank fragility.
Financial crises are traditionally analyzed as purely economic phenomena. The political economy of financial booms and busts remains both under-emphasized and limited to isolated episodes. This paper examines the political economy of financial policy during ten of the most infamous financial booms and busts since the 18th century, and presents consistent evidence of pro-cyclical regulatory policies by governments. Financial booms, and risk-taking during these episodes, were often amplified by political regulatory stimuli, credit subsidies, and an increasing light-touch approach to financial supervision. The regulatory backlash that ensues from financial crises can only be understood in the context of the deep political ramifications of these crises. Post-crisis regulations do not always survive the following boom. The interplay between politics and financial policy over these cycles deserves further attention. History suggests that politics can be the undoing of macro-prudential regulations.
The governance structure in global bodies like the IMF continues to be disproportionally dominated by advanced economies. Sustained rapid growth in emerging and developing economies (EDEs) in the past 2-3 decades has led to their growing relative weight in the global economy, but with little increase in their voice in the IMF. The emergence of regional financial arrangements reflects the growing dissatisfaction of the EDEs with the current framework. The global economy is on the cusp of an epochal change moving the fulcrum of economic power from the North Atlantic towards Asia after more than 200 years. This must be recognized and responded to adequately.
etary and Financial Committee Publication Date: April 5, 2014 Electronic Access:Free Full Text. Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF file Summary:Global activity is strengthening, but the recovery is uneven and remains too weak for comfort, with geopolitical tensions injecting new concerns. Key challenges include risks from a lasting rise in capital flow volatility for emerging and frontier economies and very low inflation in advanced economies, especially the euro area. Creating a more dynamic, job rich global economy remains our collective goal. For this, policymakers should manage the recovery more actively and reinforce their cooperation to minimize negative spillovers and promote financial stability. The Executive Summary is also available in Arabic , Chinese, French, Japanese, Russian , and Spanish.