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Europe > Switzerland

You are looking at 1 - 10 of 178 items for :

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Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Switzerland: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issue Paper studies the relationship between monetary policy, financial conditions, and real activity during the current monetary policy-tightening episode in Switzerland. After a review of various channels through which monetary policy changes affect financial conditions, the paper shows that the transmission of policy rates to market rates has been swift and that the exchange rate is an important channel. The response of real activity to tightening financial conditions has remained broadly in line with past tightening episodes. The interest rate increase has influenced cash flows for households due to higher mortgage interest expenses. Higher interest rates also lead to higher rental cost for non-homeowners. Policy rate adjustments affect the average interest rates of mortgages and thus the mortgage reference interest rate, which is a factor for rent adjustments by Swiss regulation. Monetary tightening has contributed to a slowdown of private credit and house-price growth. Growth of mortgage loans, which represent 85 percent of bank lending, moderated to 2.4 percent in 2023 from 3.5 percent in 2022.
Keywords:
mortgage price; market valuation; real estate price development; monetary policy transmission; B. Beveridge Curve dynamics; Real estate prices; Mortgages; Labor markets; Inflation; Central bank policy rate; Global; Europe
Cover IMF Working Papers
Central Banks Casting a Global Financial Safety Net: What Drives the Supply of Bilateral Swaps?
Jakree Koosakul
and
Alexei Miksjuk
The expansion of bilateral swap arrangements (BSAs) since the Global Financial Crisis has led to a substantial reconfiguration of the Global Financial Safety Net (GFSN). This paper examines the drivers of BSA supply using a novel dataset on all publicly documented BSAs. It finds that countries with well-developed financial markets and institutions and high trade openness are more likely to backstop other economies by establishing BSAs. In addition, their choice of BSA counterparts is driven by strong investment and trade exposures to these countries, with variation in the relative importance of these factors across major BSA providers. The paper shows that geopolitical considerations often affect such decisions, as BSAs are less likely to be established between geopolitically distant countries and more likely between countries in the same regional economic bloc.
Keywords:
Bilateral swap arrangements; geoeconomic fragmentation; global financial safety net; liquidity provision; BSA supply; BSA source country; GFSN evolution; BSA counterpart; Liquidity; Financial sector development; Financial safety nets; International reserves; Global financial crisis of 2008-2009; Global
Cover Policy Papers
Resilience and Sustainability Trust―2024 Contribution Agreements with Belgium, Malta, Qatar, and Switzerland
International Monetary Fund. Finance Dept.
and
International Monetary Fund. Legal Dept.
This paper presents Resilience and Sustainability (RST) contribution agreements finalized with four contributors between October 2023 and March 15, 2024. The concluded agreements provide for contributions in a total amount of about SDR 1.2 billion across the three RST accounts – the loan account, deposit account, and reserve account. The new agreements with four members add critical resources that support the continued smooth operations of the RST.
Keywords:
Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST); Contribution agreements; Resource adequacy; Funding; Contributions; transparency policy; deposit account claim; DA agreement; DA portion; DA contribution; DA assets; Loans; SDR interest rate
Cover IMF Working Papers
Monetary Policy Pass-Through to Interest Rates: Stylized Facts from 30 European Countries
Robert C. M. Beyer
,
Ruo Chen
,
Florian Misch
,
Claire Li
,
Ezgi O. Ozturk
, and
Lev Ratnovski
The extent to which changes in monetary policy rates lead to changes in loan and deposit rates for households and firms, referred to as ‘pass-through’, is an important ingredient of monetary policy transmission to output and prices. Using data on seven different bank interest rates in 30 European countries, different approaches, and the full sample as well as a subsample of euro area countries, we show that a) the pass-through in the post-pandemic hiking cycle has been heterogenous across countries and types of interest rates; b) the pass-through has generally been weaker and slower, except for rates of non-financial corporation loans and time deposits in euro area countries; c) differences in pass-through over time and across countries for most deposit rates are correlated with financial sector concentration, liquidity, and loan opportunities, and d) the effects of pass-through to outstanding mortgage rates on monetary transmission on prices and output are heterogenous across countries.
Keywords:
Monetary Policy Transmission; Monetary Policy Pass-Through; NFC loan rate; pass-through to rate; transmission to output; Deposit rates; Central bank policy rate; Mortgages; Loans; Financial sector; Europe
Cover IMF Working Papers
Calibrating Macroprudential Policies in Europe Amid Rising Housing Market Vulnerability
Ms. Laura Valderrama
Housing market developments are in the spotlight in Europe. Over-stretched valuations amid tightening financial conditions and a cost-of-living crisis have increased risks of a sustained downturn and exposed challenging trade-offs for macroprudential policy between ensuring financial system resilience and smoothing the macro-financial cycle. Against this backdrop, this paper provides detailed considerations regarding how to (re)set macroprudential policy tools in response to housing-related systemic risk in Europe, providing design solutions to avoid unintended consequences during a tightening phase, and navigating the trade-offs between managing the build-up of vulnerabilities and the macro-financial cycle in a downturn. It also proposes a novel framework to measure the effectiveness of tools and avoid overlaps by quantifying the risks addressed by different macroprudential instruments. Finally, it introduces a taxonomy allowing to assess a country’s macroprudential stance and whether adjustments to current policy settings are warranted—such as the relaxation of capital-based tools and possibly some borrower-based measures in the event of a more severe downturn.
Keywords:
Housing markets; household vulnerability; income distribution; economic cycle; financial stability; macroprudential policy.; Macroprudential policy; housing market vulnerability; Policy tool; calibrating Macroprudential policies in Europe amide; Macroprudential Policy stance framework; Countercyclical capital buffers; Mortgages; Housing prices; Credit; Europe; Global
Cover International Monetary Fund Annual Report 2021 Financial Statements
International Monetary Fund Annual Report 2021 Financial Statements
International Monetary Fund. Secretary's Department

Abstract

The audited financial statements that follow form Appendix VI of the International Monetary Fund's Annual Report 2021 and can be found, together with Appendixes I through V and other materials, on the Annual Report 2021 web page (www.imf.org/AR2021). They have been reproduced separately here as a convenience for readers. Quarterly updates of the IMF's Finances are available at www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/quart/index.htm.

Keywords:
fair value; unit of account; audit evidence; SDR basket currency; SDR position; fixed income; Financial statements; Credit risk; Income; Credit; Loans; Africa; Global; Middle East and Central Asia; Asia and Pacific; Western Hemisphere; Europe
Cover Departmental Papers
Strengthening Bank Regulation and Supervision: National Progress and Gaps
Ljubica Dordevic
,
Caio Ferreira
,
Moses Kitonga
, and
Katharine Seal
The paper employs two complementary strategies. First, it is pursues textual analysis (text mining) of the assessment reports to identify successes and challenges the authorities are facing. Second, it analyzes the grades in the Basel Core Principles assessments, including their evolution and association with bank fragility.
Keywords:
Bank Supervision; Bank Regulation; Basel Accords; Basel Core Principles; Global Financial Crisis; Prudential Requirements; credit risk; liquidity standard; bank capital adequacy; Basel III capital; liquidity risk; liquidity shock; risk assessment; liquidity reserve; liquidity reform; capital conservation buffer; liquidity strain; COVID-19; Corporate governance; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Handle with Care: Regulatory Easing in Times of COVID-19
Mr. Fabian Valencia
,
Mr. Richard Varghese
,
Weijia Yao
, and
Juan Yepez
The policy response to the COVID-19 shock included regulatory easing across many jurisdictions to facilitate the flow of credit to the economy and mitigate a further ampli-fication of the shock through tighter financial conditions. Using an intraday event study,this paper examines how stock prices—a key driver in financial conditions—reacted to regulatory easing announcements in a sample of 18 advanced economies and 8 emerging markets. The paper finds that overall, regulatory easing announcements contributed to looser financial conditions, but effects varied across sectors and tools. Financial regulatory easing led to lower valuations for financial sector stocks, and higher valuations for non-financial sector stocks, particularly for industries that are more dependent on bank financing. Furthermore, valuations declined and financial conditions tightened following announcements related to easier bank capital regulation while equity valuation rose and financial conditions loosened after those about liquidity regulation. Effects from non-regulatory financial measures appear to be generally more muted.
Keywords:
Stock prices; policy announcements; financial conditions; capital; liquidity; COVID-19.; WP; liquidity regulation easing; regulation announcement; announcement dummy; equity price; market reaction
Cover IMF Working Papers
Dirty Money: Does the Risk of Infectious Disease Lower Demand for Cash?
Mr. Serhan Cevik
The coronavirus pandemic is a global crisis like no other in modern times, and there is a growing apprehension about handling potentially contaminated cash. This paper is the first empirical attempt in the literature to investigate whether the risk of infectious diseases affects demand for physical cash. Since the intensity of cash use may influence the spread of infectious diseases, this paper utilizes two-stage least squares (2SLS) methodology with instrumental variable (IV) to address omitted variable bias and account for potential endogeneity. The analysis indicates that the spread of infectious diseases lowers demand for physical cash, after controlling for macroeconomic, financial, and technological factors. While the transactional constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic could become a catalyst for the use of digital technologies around the world, electronic payment methods may not be universally available in every country owing to financial and technological bottlenecks.
Keywords:
Demand for cash; currency-in-circulation; digital money; infectious diseases; WP; cash use; handling cash; cash transfer; store of value; infectious-disease outbreak; payment method; coronavirus pandemic; Communicable diseases; Currencies; COVID-19; Deposit rates; Ebola; Global
Cover International Monetary Fund Annual Report 2020 Financial Statements
International Monetary Fund Annual Report 2020 Financial Statements
International Monetary Fund. Secretary's Department

Abstract

The audited consolidated financial statements of the International Monetary Fund as of April 30, 2020 and 2019

Keywords:
exchange rate risk; audit evidence; fair value; SDR position; reserve account; net income; SDR basket currency; net cash; fixed income; Financial statements; Currencies; Credit risk; Credit; Loans; Global; Africa; Middle East and Central Asia; Western Hemisphere; Asia and Pacific