The October 2019 Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR) identifies the current key vulnerabilities in the global financial system as the rise in corporate debt burdens, increasing holdings of riskier and more illiquid assets by institutional investors, and growing reliance on external borrowing by emerging and frontier market economies. The report proposes that policymakers mitigate these risks through stricter supervisory and macroprudential oversight of firms, strengthened oversight and disclosure for institutional investors, and the implementation of prudent sovereign debt management practices and frameworks for emerging and frontier market economies.

Extraordinary policy measures have eased financial conditions and supported the economy, helping to contain financial stability risks. Chapter 1 warns that there is a pressing need to act to avoid a legacy of vulnerabilities while avoiding a broad tightening of financial conditions. Actions taken during the pandemic may have unintended consequences such as stretched valuations and rising financial vulnerabilities. The recovery is also expected to be asynchronous and divergent between advanced and emerging market economies. Given large external financing needs, several emerging markets face challenges, especially if a persistent rise in US rates brings about a repricing of risk and tighter financial conditions. The corporate sector in many countries is emerging from the pandemic overindebted, with notable differences depending on firm size and sector. Concerns about the credit quality of hard-hit borrowers and profitability are likely to weigh on the risk appetite of banks. Chapter 2 studies leverage in the nonfinancial private sector before and during the COVID-19 crisis, pointing out that policymakers face a trade-off between boosting growth in the short term by facilitating an easing of financial conditions and containing future downside risks. This trade-off may be amplified by the existing high and rapidly building leverage, increasing downside risks to future growth. The appropriate timing for deployment of macroprudential tools should be country-specific, depending on the pace of recovery, vulnerabilities, and policy tools available. Chapter 3 turns to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the commercial real estate sector. While there is little evidence of large price misalignments at the onset of the pandemic, signs of overvaluation have now emerged in some economies. Misalignments in commercial real estate prices, especially if they interact with other vulnerabilities, increase downside risks to future growth due to the possibility of sharp price corrections.

Relatively little is known so far about financial stability and long-term resilience within the global banking sector. The complexity and diversity of banking financial instruments and transactions leads to substantial information asymmetries, and promotes several agency conflicts. Moreover, there is a lack of conclusive evidence on the role of bank type on global banking stability, and the implications of the COVID-pandemic on alternative banking systems. The Islamic bank business model differs fundamentally from conventional banks regarding corporate governance, asset-liability structure, and product offerings. Further, agency relationships in Islamic banks are more complex than in conventional banks, which has implications on global banking stability and resilience, a topic also explored in this book.This handbook seeks conceptual, empirical, and policy papers, using quantitative and qualitative methods alike, to provide the readers, including investors, managers, and policymakers, with new insights, recent findings, and future perspectives on the global banking industry reflected by banks located in emerging and developed economies.Contributions by international scholars presented key debates, analyses and implications on several issues related to financial performance and transformations, both during and following the global financial and COVID-19 crises.

The events of the past six months have demonstrated the fragility of the global financial system and raised fundamental questions about the effectiveness of the response by private and public sector institutions. the report assesses the vulnerabilities that the system is facing and offers tentative conclusions and policy lessons. the report reflects information available up to March 21, 2008.

In contrast to non-financial firms, banks have undergone significant turbulence in the past decade, enduring severe financial crises and unprecedented regulatory reforms. New regulations, including heightened capital and liquidity requirements, measures to address regulatory migration, resolution authority, stress testing, and capital planning, have spurred the development of new tools to manage institutional failure. The primary goal has been to reduce the likelihood of poor performance and improve stock market valuations to restore public confidence in the industry. The banking industry plays a vital role in global economic and financial stability and is subject to intense regulatory and market scrutiny. Financial instability can be very costly for banks due to its spillover effects on other parts of the economy. Therefore, a sound, stable, and healthy financial system is essential for efficient resource allocation and risk distribution across the economy.This is the first book that comprehensively addresses a range of contemporary issues in the global banking industry, providing a thorough understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by the sector. The book examines how banking business models, effective policies, and regulations can address these issues, covering corporate governance, asset-liability management, risk management, financial performance, and regulatory frameworks. The potential benefits of alternative banking models, including Islamic banking, and their contribution to global financial stability and resilience are also explored.Contributions from international scholars using both quantitative and qualitative methods provide new insights, recent findings, and perspectives on future bank stability and resilience in a global context. The book also presents updated evidence and debates on the impact of recent regulations and governance structures on the industry, which has undergone significant changes in response to financial turmoil and new laws and regulations aimed at enhancing bank resiliency, protecting against systematic risks, and promoting fair and ethical banking practices.

The October 2017 Global Financial Stability Report finds that the global financial system continues to strengthen in response to extraordinary policy support, regulatory enhancements, and the cyclical upturn in growth. It also includes a chapter that examines the short- and medium-term implications for economic growth and financial stability of the past decades’ rise in household debt. It documents large differences in household debt-to-GDP ratios across countries but a common increasing trajectory that was moderated but not reversed by the global financial crisis. Another chapter develops a new macroeconomic measure of financial stability by linking financial conditions to the probability distribution of future GDP growth and applies it to a set of 20 major advanced and emerging market economies. The chapter shows that changes in financial conditions shift the whole distribution of future GDP growth.

The Global Financial Stability Report examines current risks facing the global financial system and policy actions that may mitigate these. It analyzes the key challenges facing financial and nonfinancial firms as they continue to repair their balance sheets. Chapter 2 takes a closer look at whether sovereign credit default swaps markets are good indicators of sovereign credit risk. Chapter 3 examines unconventional monetary policy in some depth, including the policies pursued by the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, and the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The current Global Financial Stability Report (April 2016) finds that global financial stability risks have risen since the last report in October 2015. The new report finds that the outlook has deteriorated in advanced economies because of heightened uncertainty and setbacks to growth and confidence, while declines in oil and commodity prices and slower growth have kept risks elevated in emerging markets. These developments have tightened financial conditions, reduced risk appetite, raised credit risks, and stymied balance sheet repair. A broad-based policy response is needed to secure financial stability. Advanced economies must deal with crisis legacy issues, emerging markets need to bolster their resilience to global headwinds, and the resilience of market liquidity should be enhanced. The report also examines financial spillovers from emerging market economies and finds that they have risen substantially. This implies that when assessing macro-financial conditions, policymakers may need to increasingly take into account economic developments in emerging market economies. Finally, the report assesses changes in the systemic importance of insurers, finding that across advanced economies the contribution of life insurers to systemic risk has increased in recent years. The results suggest that supervisors and regulators should take a more macroprudential approach to the sector.

The April 2012 Global Financial Stability Report assesses changes in risks to financial stability over the past six months, focusing on sovereign vulnerabilities, risks stemming from private sector deleveraging, and assessing the continued resilience of emerging markets. The report probes the implications of recent reforms in the financial system for market perception of safe assets, and investigates the growing public and private costs of increased longevity risk from aging populations.

The Inaugural Camdessus Central Banking Lecture