Cross Border Financial Surveillance

Effective cross-border financial surveillance requires the monitoring of direct and indirect systemic linkages. This paper illustrates how network analysis could make a significant contribution in this regard by simulating different credit and funding shocks to the banking systems of a number of selected countries. After that, we show that the inclusion of risk transfers could modify the risk profile of entire financial systems, and thus an enriched simulation algorithm able to account for risk transfers is proposed. Finally, we discuss how some of the limitations of our simulations are a reflection of existing information and data gaps, and thus view these shortcomings as a call to improve the collection and analysis of data on cross-border financial exposures.

The international financial system has come under strain several times in recent years, and analysis has shown that most crises originated from the risks built into cross-border exposures. Assessment and monitoring of cross-border exposures and country risk are essential activities for international lending agencies such as government bodies, banks, multinational corporations and other investors. Inadequate risk management could have a destabilising effect on both lender and borrower and could result in a major international financial crisis. This completely revised edition of Thomas E Krayenbuehl's classic handbook clearly shows how the various players can quantify and manage the complex factors involved in order to minimise the risk and avoid potentially catastrophic consequences. It provides both a rigorous analysis of the current situation and a guide to meeting the challenges of the future. Just some of the things you'll discover. How to succeed in cross-border lending and investment through good assessment, monitoring and hedging of country risk How the Tequila and Asian crises came about, and the lessons learned The likelihood of future crises and the potential causes The latest problems to beset the international financial system The recent developments in cross-border financing Why the problem of contagion occurs between seemingly unrelated markets The enormous need for global capital to bring about sustainable economic development in the developing world, and the role of the major players in fulfilling it The numerous factors that constitute and influence a specific country risk The responsibilities of all the parties involved, from the IMF and the World Bank to the industrialised and developing nations, the regulators and the rating agencies How this study helps you: This lucid and authoritative handbook will help you to: Understand the problems facing the international financial system Identify and assess new investment opportunities Optimise risk composition of cross-border lending or investment Make sound decisions, minimise risk and achieve better outcomes The definitive study of this important topic - its purpose, practice and implications

This paper outlines strategic priorities for the IMF’s financial surveillance in the coming years. It complements recent discussions on the work agenda in this area. It takes stock of innovations and gaps in financial surveillance by the Fund during the past decade, including in the wake of the current global financial crisis. It proposes concrete and prioritized steps to further strengthen financial surveillance so that the Fund can fulfill its mandate to ensure the effective operation of the international monetary system and support global economic and financial stability.

The world economy at the end of the twentieth century was afflicted with financial turbulence. Millions of people in emerging-market nations endured severe recessions, and many residents of wealthy nations also experienced losses. Some scholars describe this instability as a consequence of a progressively integrated global economy. Writing for the Washington Post, Jessica Matthews describe an "enormous, several trillion-dollar pool of money that sloshes around in what is effectively a supranational cyberspace, moving by computer in and out of off-shore banks and chasing profits in twenty-four hour markets."Spanning the disciplines of economics, finance, political economy and international relations, this wide-ranging, analytical review is a mainstream "primer" for defining the issues and catalyzing a fruitful public debate. It is grounded in an exposition of the analytic fundamentals of financial activity, how those fundamentals apply to an integrating (but still far from perfectly integrated) world economy and financial system, and how the institutions of collective governance need to be adapted to that evolving world. In addition to its analytical overview, Turbulent Waters offers practical recommendations for the major financial challenges that policymakers will face during the first decades of the twenty-first century.

This paper seeks to advance our understanding of global financial interconnectedness by (i) mapping aspects of the architecture of global finance and (ii) investigating critical fault lines related to interconnectedness along which systemic risks were built up and shocks transmitted in the crisis. It thus takes initial steps toward operationalizing enhanced financial sector and macro-financial surveillance called for by the IMF’s Executive Board and by experts such as de Larosiere et al. (2009). Getting a better handle on interconnectedness would strengthen the Fund‘s ability, together with the Financial Stability Board, to track systemic risk concentrations. It would also inform spillover and vulnerability analyses, and sharpen bilateral and multilateral surveillance.

The Fund has the responsibility to ensure the effective operation of the international monetary system, thereby promoting economic and financial stability and growth. The recent crisis was a reminder that these goals are best served by Fund surveillance that seeks to ensure that members’ financial systems are properly regulated and supervised, and maintain the right balance between dynamism and stability.

This paper reviews the Fund’s liquidity position. The review covers the Fund’s financial activities for the period September 11, 2009 through March 31, 2010, and also discusses recent developments likely to influence the Fund’s liquidity position. Against this backdrop, it examines the outlook for liquidity using the one-year Forward Commitment Capacity (FCC), the primary measure of the Fund’s liquidity, which is calculated taking into account supplementary resources made available under borrowing arrangements, including note purchase agreements.

The Fund has continued to make great efforts to enhance financial sector focus and analytics in bilateral surveillance. The main initiatives include enhancing collaboration with other multilateral institutions, improving analytical tools and methodologies, and a major strengthening of the financial sector capabilities in area departments. The fruits of these efforts are already visible in the better treatment of financial sector issues in Article IV reports