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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.
International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept
and
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
In August 2024, at the request of the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan (RMA), the IMF South Asia Regional Training and Technical Assistance Center (SARTTAC) conducted a Technical Assistance (TA) mission in Thimphu. The mission aimed to assist the RMA in establishing an interest rate corridor (IRC) and operationalizing related instruments, liquidity forecasting, and collateral frameworks. The mission identified that the RMA lacks necessary monetary policy instruments to effectively address changing systemic liquidity conditions and financial stability challenges. It emphasized the need to move away from reliance on administrative controls, as the absence of appropriate price incentives reinforces the preference for foreign exchange among Bhutanese residents, increasing pressures on the peg. To tackle these issues, the mission proposed a phased approach to introduce the IRC. Initially, relevant external and internal documents should be finalized, followed by mock operations. The first phase involves introducing a one-week main Open Market Operation (OMO), conducted weekly at the policy rate with full allotment. Automatic access to the IRC's standing facilities should be ensured. Later, fixed-quantity, variable-rate OMOs should be utilized, relying on liquidity forecasting to calibrate operations. Additionally, the mission recommended reinstating sweeping arrangements for government accounts and enhancing coordination with the Treasury to improve liquidity forecasting. These measures aim to strengthen the RMA's operational framework and enhance the effectiveness of monetary policy.
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
The FSAP team undertook a thorough top-down corporate and bank solvency, bank liquidity stress tests as well as analysis of interconnectedness using mid-2023 data. This note covers the methodology and results of the scenario-based solvency test, the single factor sensitivity analysis, the liquidity test, and interconnectedness analysis. The stress test exercise was carried out on a sample of 105 commercial banks. The analysis is heavily dependent on supervisory data on individual banks’ positions shared by the OJK and BI as well as publicly available information on corporate sector. While FSAP results are not directly comparable to the authorities’ own stress testing results due to differences in scenarios, methodologies, and objectives, they provide an assessment of the system-wide resilience of the Indonesian banking sector at the current juncture.
Tatsushi Okuda
The Chilean real estate sector has recently undergone adjustments which have increased the risks for the financial sector, but the system remains overall resilient. In the baseline, the real estate market is expected to modestly recover, and several factors mitigate credit risk. The buffers in the financial sector currently appear broadly adequate to absorb stresses from high long-term interest rates and the tail risk of a real estate crisis. Nevertheless, supervisors should monitor these risks closely, keep advancing in closing data gaps, and continue to extend stress test models to comprehensively capture real estate-specific risk factors.
Serhan Cevik
The rise of financial technologies—fintech—could have transformative effects on the financial landscape, expanding the reach of services beyond the confines of geography and creating new competitive sources of finance for households and firms. But what makes fintech grow? Why do some countries have more financial innovation than others? In this paper, I use a comprehensive dataset to investigate the emergence and spread of fintech in a diverse panel of 98 countries over the period 2012–2020. This empirical analysis helps ascertain economic, demographic, technological and institutional factors that enable the development of fintech. The magnitude and statistical significance of these factors vary according to the type of fintech instrument and the level of economic development (advanced economies vs. developing countries). Finally, these findings reveal that policies and structural reforms can help promote financial innovation and cultivate fintech ventures—particularly by strengthening technological and institutional infrastructures and reducing cybersecurity threats.
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
IMF conducted a mission at the request of the Central Bank of Belize provided technical assistance focusing on developing a framework for the supervision of electronic money issuers in Belize. The mission reviewed existing approaches to supervising firms conducting regulated financial activities, as well as the regulatory framework and licensing practices for e-money issuers only to the extent that they influence and impact effective supervision. The mission also met with other key stakeholders from the public and private sector setting out nine key recommendations covering risk-based supervision, data collection, reconciliations, transparency, fund safeguarding, permitted investments, agents, inspection reports, and domestic collaboration.
Tansaya Kunaratskul
,
Qiuyun Shang
,
Anrich Denver Daseman
,
Frankosiligi Solomon
,
Victor Budau
,
Maria Fernanda Chacon Rey
, and
Carl-Andreas Claussen
At the request of the Bank of Namibia (BoN), an IMF mission team conducted a technical assistance (TA) from January 15 to February 1, 2024. The mission assisted the authorities in establishing the groundwork for a feasibility study of a retail central bank digital currency (rCBDC) and drafting a roadmap for the BoN's CBDC exploration. The mission also reviewed requirements for rCBDC issuance, including institutional capacity, technology, cybersecurity, and legal foundations. The mission recommended the BoN assess how rCBDC can improve the payment systems and financial inclusion in Namibia compared to alternative solutions. The authorities are advised to establish a compelling rationale for rCBDC before embarking on a more resource-intensive undertaking. The mission suggested that the BoN continue developing expertise and capacity in rCBDC across policy, technology, and legal domains, including through continued engagement with stakeholders.
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.
Ezgi O. Ozturk
This paper analyzes the transmission of ECB policy rate changes to bank interest rates in Kosovo during the 2022-23 tightening cycle. While both lending and deposit rates increased, the passthrough was more limited compared to the euro area and regional peers. Three key factors explain this limited transmission: Kosovo's stage of financial development, high banking sector liquidity, and significant bank concentration.