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Marianne Bechara
,
Wouter Bossu
,
Amira Rasekh
,
Chia Yi Tan
, and
Akihiro Yoshinaga
In designing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), it is imperative that central banks carefully consider its legal foundations. As with any form of money, CBDCs require a solid basis under public and private law to provide it with the necessary legal certainty and political support that will underpin its wide circulation. This Fintech Note examines the private law aspects of token-based CBDC primarily intended for retail use. It follows a previous IMF working paper that examines the legal foundations of CBDC under central bank law and its treatment under monetary law—the main public law aspects of CBDC.
This Global Financial Stability Note examines the growth of the pension fund sector and the potential financial stability implications. Historically, pension funds have been seen as a contributor to financial stability because of their long-term and well-diversified liabilities. However, the sector has undergone significant structural shifts accelerated by a prolonged period of low interest rates, increasing its exposure to traditional risks while introducing emerging risks; this is reflected in growing intra-financial sector interconnectedness and exposure to long-term sovereign bonds. The recent transition to higher interest rates should be positive for the pension sector, albeit its pace and abruptness has been associated with liquidity stress and contagion risks in some countries.
Atilla Arda
and
Jan Nolte
The technical note and manual "Sibling Rivalry in the Financial Safety Net," authored by Atilla Arda and Jan Nolte, examines the governance structures essential critical for effective bank resolution and deposit insurance functions. Considering the vulnerabilities exposed during the 2008-09 global financial crisis, the note emphasizes the interconnectedness of these two critical functions, both of which aim to safeguard depositors and maintain financial stability. The authors discuss various institutional arrangements, highlighting the choice between integrating both functions within existing agencies or establishing new entities. The note then identifies potential conflicts of interest among resolution authorities, deposit insurance systems, other safety net participants such as central banks and supervisory agencies, and the financial sector. These potential conflicts underscore the necessity of robust governance frameworks to address these challenges and ensure autonomy, operational independence, and accountability of the two functions. The note emphasizes the need for strong legal protections for individuals in charge of resolution and deposit insurance, ensuring they can take decisive actions during crises. By exploring best practices and case studies, including Denmark's integrated framework, the authors provide valuable insights into optimizing institutional and governance arrangements by integrating the deposit insurance function within the resolution authority. This could support effective cooperation among authorities which is vital for creating resilient financial safety nets.
Eugenio M Cerutti
,
Melih Firat
, and
Hector Perez-Saiz
Digital money and digital payments innovations have the potential for improving cross-border payments by reducing costs, enhancing speed, and improving transparency. This note performs an empirical analysis of the potential impact of digital money on the volume and transaction costs of cross-border payments, with a focus on the short-term intensive margin. The market of cross-border payments is very large, with retail transactions having a low share of the total but the highest transaction costs, particularly for remittances. Our illustrative scenarios assume an estimated 60 percent reduction in transaction costs and short-term elasticities to changes in costs estimated from remittances data. The results show two outcomes. First, the cross-border volume increases could be sizable for countries that are large remittance recipients and face expensive transaction costs. Second, even with a large drop in transaction costs, the short-term rise in global cross-border transaction volumes could be limited as a result of the low transaction costs of the wholesale segment. Moving outside the short-term intensive margin, the impact could potentially be much larger as digital currencies and other digital payments innovations—together with tokenization of assets on programmable platforms—could move the financial system into a transformative new era by fostering financial development and promoting further inclusion across borders.
Olamide Harrison
and
Vina Nguyen
This note provides a conceptual framework to organize discussions of the appropriateness of the monetary policy stance and presents tools that country teams can employ to measure, report, and evaluate the stance of monetary policy. The note focuses exclusively on aggregate demand considerations—on whether the stance is tight or loose—without considering whether such a stance is appropriate for achieving policy objectives. The latter requires considering aggregate supply and Phillips Curve trade-offs. The note does not cover other macroeconomic policies, such as macroprudential or fiscal measures, which could also have a considerable impact on the effectiveness of monetary policy.
Augusto Azael Pérez Azcárraga
,
José M García-Sanjinés
,
Rossana A San Juan
,
Selvin A Lemus
,
Philip R Wood
, and
Robert Kokoli
This technical note offers practical guidance to senior managers and technical staff in Customs administrations for developing a Compliance Improvement Plan (CIP) using an Integrated Risk Management (IRM) approach. It clearly outlines the components of a CIP based on IRM, explains what it entails for a Customs administration, and how to develop it step-by-step. Additionally, it underscores the importance of identifying and implementing tailored treatment measures for various trader segments, which is crucial for enhancing compliance levels. Furthermore, it emphasizes the need to identify key vulnerabilities within processes that may lead to the realization of risks, proposing appropriate strategies to address them. The note also highlights other critical factors that must be considered to ensure the effective implementation of a CIP.
Tansaya Kunaratskul
,
Andre Reslow
, and
Manmohan Singh
This Fintech Note aims to analyze how the issuance of central bank digital currency (CBDC) could affect monetary operations, which include central banks managing the demand and supply of reserves to achieve a desired stance of monetary policy. The note outlines three scenarios: CBDCs substituting cash, commercial bank deposits, and reserves, with implications varying based on design features and market developments. It discusses how these scenarios influence balance sheets and reserves, potentially drawing short-term interest rates away from the policy target and complicating liquidity forecasting. Furthermore, the note shows how central banks could calibrate monetary operations such as engaging in a fine-tuning operation and provide additional reserves on demand to ensure that central banks can maintain their monetary policy stance. Finally, careful design of CBDCs, such as setting criteria for access, holding quantity, and remuneration, can mitigate adverse effects on monetary operations.
International Monetary Fund
and
World Bank
This guidance note was prepared by International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group staff under a project undertaken with the support of grants from the Financial Sector Reform and Strengthening Initiative, (FIRST).The aim of the project was to deliver a report that provides emerging market and developing economies with guidance and a roadmap in developing their local currency bond markets (LCBMs). This note will also inform technical assistance missions in advising authorities on the formulation of policies to deepen LCBMs.
Tobias Adrian
,
Nassira Abbas
,
Silvia Ramirez
, and
Gonzalo Fernandez Dionis
In March 2023, the US banking sector turmoil sent a shockwave through the global financial system. Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the 16th largest bank in the country, collapsed in a matter of days, followed by Signature Bank (SBNY) and First Republic Bank (FRB), marking the largest bank failures after Washington Mutual Bank in 2008. Triggered by sizable deposit outflows, this event raised concerns about the soundness of the rest of the US banking sector, in particular, other banks of similar or smaller size with large amounts of uninsured deposits, unrealized losses, and commercial real estate exposures. The March turmoil is a powerful reminder of the challenges posed by the interaction between tighter monetary and financial conditions and the buildup in vulnerabilities—challenges amplified by ineffective interest, liquidity, and credit risk management practices at some banks. This note offers an analysis of the main attributes of the affected banks to assess the extent to which vulnerabilities persist in a weak tail of banks . Furthermore, the note provides a prospective assessment by evaluating the medium-term risks to financial stability posed by this weak tail.
Edda R Karlsdóttir
,
Rachid Awad
,
Ender Emre
,
Alessandro Gullo
,
Aldona Jociene
, and
Constant Verkoren
This note intends to provide advice to bank supervision and resolution authorities and policymakers seeking to deal with opaque bank ownership or significant overhang of related-party exposures.