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International Monetary Fund. Legal Dept.
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International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, & Review Department
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International Monetary Fund. Policy Development and Review Dept.
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International Monetary Fund. Secretary's Department
On November 15, 2024, the IMF’s Executive Board concluded the Review of the IMF’s Transparency Policy and Open Archives Policy and approved a number of reforms. As an international institution, making important documents available to the public on timely basis enhances the IMF’s credibility, accountability, and effectiveness and is critical to fulfill its mandate of promoting global economic and financial stability. While transparency at the IMF is achieved through a range of policies and practices, the Transparency Policy and the Open Archives Policy form the core elements of the IMF’s transparency framework. The Fund has come a long way since the inception of these policies in the early nineties. Most Board documents are now published, published more quickly, and under more consistent and evenhanded application of modification rules. The information available in the Fund’s archives has increased and is more easily accessible to the public. While experience suggests that these policies are effective in delivering on their objectives, the landscape in which the Fund operates has evolved since these policies were last reviewed in 2013. In a more interconnected and shock-prone world the pace with which policymakers need to make decisions has accelerated and the expectations of stakeholders on the availability and timeliness of the Fund’s analysis and policy advice has grown. Against this backdrop, the 2024 Review of the IMF’s Transparency Policy and Open Archives Policy focuses on targeted reforms to (i) support faster publication of board documents and communications of Board’s decisions; (ii) strengthen the rules and processes to modify Board documents prior to publication; and (iii) allow faster release of some documents in the Fund’s archives accessible to the public. The reforms further clarify the scope and objectives of these policies, their implementation processes, and how to strengthen knowledge sharing. The review was supported by data analysis as well as surveys and consultations with key stakeholders, including Executive Directors, country authorities, IMF missions chiefs, and civil society organizations as detailed in the three background papers accompanying this 2024 review.
International Monetary Fund. Communications Department
Productivity must play a more important role in driving sustained growth as our societies age. But there’s no consensus on how to reverse the broad slowdown in productivity growth seen across almost all countries over the past 20 years. F&D magazine’s September issue invites leading thinkers to examine productivity from multiple angles, including dynamism, innovation, demographics, and sustainability.
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
This paper describes a technical note on securities regulation and supervision in The Netherlands. Regulation of securities and derivatives markets in the European Union (EU) has changed materially since the last Netherlands Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP), with further reforms underway. The securities market landscape in the Netherlands has also changed markedly since the last FSAP, largely in response to Brexit. The Netherlands is now of EU-wide significance in relation to the trading of securities, particularly equities, which has brought challenges for the national authorities. Further enhancements of its approach and a continuing focus on trading system operational resilience are now needed. The established venues are growing and diversifying their offerings, and ‘fintech’ new entrants with business models combining trading and post-trading operations in new ways are on the horizon. Enhancements to the legislative framework are now needed to ensure that the Autoriteit Financiële Markten can continue to supervise efficiently and effectively an expanded and more diverse market, and to engage credibly with international counterparts.
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
This paper presents a technical note on climate risk analysis in The Netherlands. The Netherlands is exposed to both physical and transition risks from climate change. This Financial Sector Assessment Program FSAP analyzed potential risks to financial stability posed by physical risks from floods and transition risks from nitrogen. In order to assess physical climate risks, bank stress tests were conducted against flood events under a range of scenarios encompassing diverse regions, climate conditions, and flood protection reinforcement plans with different return periods. Despite the sizeable land area in the Netherlands susceptible to flooding, the physical climate stress test has demonstrated that the banking sector exhibits resilience to flood events. As the government’s efforts to reduce nitrogen depositions continue, the banking sector could face transition risks through the credit channel, particularly if loans are extended to financially vulnerable firms in high nitrogen-emitting sectors. The Dutch government should strengthen data sharing and collaboration with floods and climate experts. Flood scenarios designed with detailed flood maps under future climate conditions would provide a more accurate assessment of both climate change impact and adaptation measures.
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
This paper presents a technical note on macroprudential policy framework in The Netherlands. The Financial Sector Assessment Program recommendations aim to address observed gaps and further strengthen the Netherlands’ macroprudential policy framework. Macroprudential policy in the Netherlands has centered on the residential real estate market given the importance of this market for households, banks, and insurers. The current institutional arrangement is broadly in line with IMF guidance for effective macroprudential policy. Surveillance and systemic risk assessment rely on comprehensive quantitative information and on various property market models and stress tests. The willingness to act and the ability to act over the calibration of the borrower-based tools are, however, considered weak. The authorities recently increased the differentiation of the transfer tax to improve the position of owner-occupiers relative to that of buy-to-let investors, but the measure should be calibrated cautiously. Supply-side measures remain critical to limit house price pressures and improve access to homeownership.
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
This paper presents a technical note on banking supervision in The Netherlands. Supervision of less significant institutions is effective in the Netherlands. The Financial Sector Assessment Program encourages De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) to maintain its proactive and creative approach, and proposes some extensions to solidify this practice. DNB and the Autoriteit Financiële Markten should also continue the rigorous practice in IO Mortgage supervision, while further emphasizing the quality of inputs for risk managements of banks, in particular, updated clients’ disposable incomes and collaterals’ values, and motivating banks to improve risk controls and the data aggregation process. Going forward, supervision must reflect a changing market landscape and rapid deployment of new technologies.
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
This paper presents a technical note on supervision and disclosure of climate-related risks in The Netherlands. Similar to other jurisdictions, the integration of climate-related risks into supervisory processes in the Netherlands faces various challenges. Supervision has been proactive in researching exposures to climate-related risks as well as designing tools to assess how financial institutions identify, monitor and manage these risks. Supervisors have been gradually developing approaches and methodologies to support the supervisory process. Many of these initiatives and projects have been influential in the international debate on climate risk supervision. The authorities need to translate strategic measures into a concrete roadmap to ensure that the process of setting up climate risk supervision is systematic and continues at a sufficiently ambitious pace. Going forward, climate risk supervision must strengthen quantitative tools and data sets. The note provides the main recommendations to enhance the supervision of banking and insurance activities conducted in the Netherlands with a direct bearing on its financial stability.
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
This paper presents a technical note on systemic risk analysis in The Netherlands. The banking sector appears resilient to adverse macrofinancial shocks assuming no policy reactions, but some vulnerabilities exist. The insurance solvency stress test evidenced a broad resilience of the Dutch insurance sector, particularly for property & casualty and health insurers, while vulnerabilities exist for some life insurers. The Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) team also carried out an analysis of household and corporate sector resilience, and of the commercial real estate market. Life insurers are broadly resilient to liquidity shocks despite large interest rate swap positions. Assuming a euro interest rate increase of 100 basis points, margin calls are sizable, but the sampled entities apply heterogenous strategies and draw on a variety of different sources for their liquidity, including cash and deposits, uncommitted repo facilities, and the sale of money-market funds. The FSAP recommendations aim to address observed gaps and further strengthen the Netherlands’ systemic risk analysis framework.
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
This paper highlights a technical note on insurance and pension fund regulation and supervision in The Netherlands. The Dutch insurance sector is undergoing further consolidation, the life sector has been steadily shrinking over the last two decades, and the non-life market is relatively saturated. Investment exposures to real estate are increasing, and Dutch insurers are large providers of mortgage loans. Solvency ratios of Dutch insurers are well above the regulatory threshold, but below the EU average and furthermore distorted by the mechanics of the ‘Long-Term Guarantee Measures’ in Solvency II. The Dutch pension system—considered to be among the best according to international comparisons—rests on three pillars. Most pension schemes are defined-benefit pensions, which have come under pressure since 2008, when low interest rates resulted in declining funding ratio and led to an overall loss in confidence in the system. The Dutch system for independent state agencies, including De Nederlandsche Bank and Autoriteit Financiële Markten, carefully balances powers and accountability. Supervision of insurers and pension funds is effective in the Netherlands.