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Europe > Ireland

You are looking at 1 - 10 of 42 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
  • Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill x
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Cover Policy Papers
Initial Considerations For The Review Of Charges And The Surcharge Policy
International Monetary Fund. Policy Development and Review Dept.
On October 11, 2024, the IMF’s Executive Board concluded the Review of Charges and the Surcharge Policy. The review is part of a broader ongoing effort to ensure that the IMF’s lending policies remain fit for purpose to meet the evolving needs of the membership. Charges and surcharges are important elements of the IMF’s cooperative lending and risk-management framework, where all members contribute and all can benefit from support when needed. Together, they cover lending intermediation expenses, help accumulate reserves to protect against financial risks, and provide incentives for prudent and temporary borrowing. This provides a strong financial foundation that allows the IMF to extend vital balance of payments support on affordable terms to member countries when they need it most.



Against the backdrop of a challenging economic environment and high global interest rates, the Executive Board reached consensus on a comprehensive package of reforms that substantially reduces the cost of borrowing for members while safeguarding the IMF's financial capacity to support countries in need. The approved measures will lower IMF borrowing costs by about US$1.2 billion annually or reduce payments on the margin of the rate of charge as well as surcharges on average by 36 percent. The number of countries subject to surcharges in fiscal year 2026 is expected to fall from 20 to 13.



Key reforms include a reduction in the margin for the rate of charge, an increase in the threshold for level-based surcharges, a reduction in rate for time-based surcharges, an alignment of thresholds for commitment fees with annual and cumulative access limits for GRA lending facilities, and institution of regular reviews of surcharges.



The series of three papers informed the Executive Board’s first and second informal engagements (July and September 2024) and the formal meeting (October 2024) on this review.
Keywords:
General Resources Account; Charges; Margin for the basic rate of charge; Surcharges; Commitment Fees; Precautionary Balances; Income; multilayered framework; fund arrangement; surcharge rate; intermediation cost; fund's liquidity; borrowing cost; Credit; SDR interest rate; Balance of payments need; Credit risk; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Luxembourg: Financial Sector Assessment Program—Technical Note on Investment Funds: Regulation and Supervision
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
This paper highlights a technical note on Investment Funds: Regulation and Supervision for the Luxembourg Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP). Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) has a robust supervisory framework with substantive improvements since the last FSAP, but some areas could be further strengthened. Given the structural importance of delegation for Luxembourg domiciled funds, initiating an on-site inspection framework for delegates outside Luxembourg assumes importance. CSSF’s enforcement framework could be substantially improved through enhancements on four key fronts. CSSF could improve the domestic regulatory framework on areas such as winding up, valuation, and approach to indirectly regulated Alternative Investment Funds AIFs. Given Luxembourg’s position as the domicile of EU’s largest IF sector, CSSF should actively continue to promote and contribute to EU level reforms on various topics. With respect to liquidity risks, CSSF should continue to actively contribute to the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) guidance on the use of Liquidity Management Tools and to engage closely with ESMA and the EU Commission on the proposed revision of the Eligible Assets Directive.
Keywords:
managers directive; investment fund manager; Banque Centrale du Luxembourg; EU requirement; investment fund Sector; Mutual funds; Financial sector stability; Financial Sector Assessment Program; Systemic risk; Liquidity risk; Europe; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Micro-Assessment of Macroprudential Borrower-Based Measures in Lithuania
Mantas Dirma
and
Jaunius Karmelavičius
Despite having introduced borrower-based measures (BBM), Lithuania's housing and mortgage markets were booming during the low-interest-rate period, casting doubt on the macroprudential toolkit's ability to contain excessive mortgage growth. This paper assesses the adequacy of BBMs’ parametrization in Lithuania. We do so by building a novel lifetime expected credit loss framework that is founded on actual loan-level default and household income data. We show that the BBM package effectively contains mortgage credit risk and that housing loans are more resilient to stress than in the preregulatory era. Our BBM limit calibration exercise reveals that (1) in the low-rate environment, income-based measures could have been tighter; and (2) borrowers taking out secondary mortgages rightly are and should be required to pledge a higher down payment.
Keywords:
macroprudential policy; borrower-based measures; LTV; mortgage credit risk; lifetime expected loss; probability of default.; calibration exercise; BBM package; modeling mortgage risk; Lithuania's housing market; Mortgages; Loans; Credit risk; Housing prices; Macroprudential policy instruments; Europe; Baltics; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Derivative Margin Calls: A New Driver of MMF Flows
Maddalena Ghio
,
Linda Rousova
,
Dilyara Salakhova
, and
German Villegas Bauer
During the March 2020 market turmoil, euro area money-market funds (MMFs) experienced significant outflows, reaching almost 8% of assets under management. This paper investigates whether the volatility in MMF flows was driven by investors’ liquidity needs related to derivative margin payments. We combine three highly granular unique data sources (EMIR data for derivatives, SHSS data for investor holdings of MMFs and Refinitiv Lipper data for daily MMF flows) to construct a daily fund-level panel dataset spanning from February to April 2020. We estimate the effects of variation margin paid and received by the largest holders of EURdenominated MMFs on flows of these MMFs. The main findings suggest that variation margin payments faced by some investors holding MMFs were an important driver of the flows of EUR-denominated MMFs domiciled in euro area.
Keywords:
liquidity risk; money market funds; big data; interconnectedness; non-bank financial intermediaries.; EUR-denominated MMFs; derivative margin calls; MMF flow; variation margin payment; VM flow; Stocks; Liquidity; Mutual funds; Nonbank financial institutions; Pension spending; Global; IMF working paper research Department; derivatives reform; margin payment; Derivative markets
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Ireland: Financial Sector Assessment Program-Technical Note on Banking Supervision
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
This Technical Note discusses Ireland’s report on Banking Supervision. Supervision of less significant institutions is largely effective in Ireland. The Central Bank’s supervisory approach to LSIs is intrusive and well-developed supervisory tools are appropriately applied. The prudential regulation of banks has improved greatly since the 2016 Financial System Assessment Program. The EU framework has largely managed to embrace international regulatory reforms, following up on the causes of the Global Financial Crisis. The banking supervision has been tested by severe headwinds, with the final outcomes still in play. Supervision went through a period of major challenges for the economy and the financial system, namely from Brexit and the pandemic. The continued effectiveness of banking supervision in Ireland will depend on its success in solving several complicated problems. This note provides the main recommendations to enhance the supervision of the banking activities conducted in Ireland with a direct bearing on its financial stability.
Keywords:
supervision of the banking activity; broker-dealer supervision division; EU banking systems; business model; Central Bank approach; COVID-19; Credit risk; Bank supervision; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Ireland: Financial Sector Assessment Program-Technical Note on Oversight of Fintech
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
This Technical Note on Oversight of Fintech explains that Ireland’s fintech sector is growing in importance through the entry of innovative new players and digital transformation of incumbents’ business models and products. This note seeks to identify risks arising from fintech as well as policy responses by authorities. The Irish Government has adopted a Strategy implemented by annual action plans for the development of Ireland’s international financial services sector that includes several initiatives of relevance to fintech. The Central Bank has an Innovation Hub that provides a single point of contact for stakeholders on fintech-related issues. Under the EU’s passporting framework host regulators receive limited information on the activities that passporting entities carry out in their jurisdiction. Incumbent retail banks in Ireland are dedicating significant resources to digital transformation, while fintechs are enlarging consumer choice through innovative new services. The Central Bank should further intensify its efforts to monitor developments on crypto-assets through systematic data collection within the scope of its powers and, where unacceptable risks remain, issue carefully targeted warnings and investor communications.
Keywords:
central bank of Ireland; support firm; markets authority; host regulator; customer base; Fintech; Virtual currencies; Financial sector; Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT); Global; Cyber risk
Cover Technical Notes and Manuals
How to Assess Country Risk: The Vulnerability Exercise Approach Using Machine Learning
International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, & Review Department
The IMF’s Vulnerability Exercise (VE) is a cross-country exercise that identifies country-specific near-term macroeconomic risks. As a key element of the Fund’s broader risk architecture, the VE is a bottom-up, multi-sectoral approach to risk assessments for all IMF member countries. The VE modeling toolkit is regularly updated in response to global economic developments and the latest modeling innovations. The new generation of VE models presented here leverages machine-learning algorithms. The models can better capture interactions between different parts of the economy and non-linear relationships that are not well measured in ”normal times.” The performance of machine-learning-based models is evaluated against more conventional models in a horse-race format. The paper also presents direct, transparent methods for communicating model results.
Keywords:
Risk Assessment; Supervised Machine Learning; Prediction; Sudden Stop; Exchange Market Pressure; Fiscal Crisis; Debt; Financial Crisis; Economic Crisis; Economic Growth; VE modeling toolkit; ML technique; Vulnerability Exercise approach using machine learning; IMF's Vulnerability Exercise; ML tool; crisis risk indices; Early warning systems; Global financial crisis of 2008-2009; Sudden stops; Banking crises; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Forbearance Patterns in the Post-Crisis Period
Katharina Bergant
and
Thore Kockerols
Using supervisory loan-level data on corporate loans, we show that banks facing high levels of non-performing loans relative to their capital and provisions were more likely to grant forbearance measures to the riskiest group of borrowers. More specifically, we find that risky borrowers are more likely to get an increase in the overall limit or the maturity of a loan product from a distressed lender. As a second step, we analyse the effectiveness of this practice in reducing the probability of default. We show that the most common measure of forbearance is effective in the short run but no forbearance measure significantly reduces the probability of default in the long run. Our evidence also suggests that forbearance and new lending are substitutes for banks, as high shares of forbearance are negatively correlated with new lending to the same group of borrowers. Taken together, these findings can help policy makers shape surveillance and regulation in a future recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Keywords:
WP; risky borrower; outstanding balance; x Time; bank characteristic; borrower rating; interest rate; Time level; rating class; Loans; Nonperforming loans; Capital adequacy requirements; Credit; Credit risk; Global; Non-Performing Loans; Zombie Lending; Banking Regulation
Cover IMF Working Papers
Swing Pricing and Fragility in Open-end Mutual Funds
Dunhong Jin
,
Marcin Kacperczyk
,
Bige Kahraman
, and
Felix Suntheim
How to prevent runs on open-end mutual funds? In recent years, markets have observed an innovation that changed the way open-end funds are priced. Alternative pricing rules (known as swing pricing) adjust funds’ net asset values to pass on funds’ trading costs to transacting shareholders. Using unique data on investor transactions in U.K. corporate bond funds, we show that swing pricing eliminates the first-mover advantage arising from the traditional pricing rule and significantly reduces redemptions during stress periods. The positive impact of alternative pricing rules on fund flows reverses in calm periods when costs associated with higher tracking error dominate the pricing effect.
Keywords:
WP; swing pricing; pricing rule; fund investor; adjustment factor; liquidity mismatch; fund runs; fragility; strategic complementarity; pricing mechanism; Liquidity risk; Flow of funds; Mutual funds; Corporate bonds; Price structures; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Can Contingent Convertibles Help Private Asset Managers Fund Their Acquisition of Non-Performing Loans from Portuguese Banks?
Mr. Andre O Santos
This paper analyzes the capital structure of private asset managers in which the acquisition of nonperforming loans (NPLs) is funded with Contingent Convertibles (CoCos) placed with investors. The paper develops a model based on NPL transfer prices and residual recovery rates to assess capital structures consisting of CoCos and equity. The CoCos would contain put and call options to write down losses and write up profits, respectively, arising from liquidation and restructuring procedures. The paper concludes that the protection mechanism provided by debt write-downs embedded in CoCos and the incentives to investors provided by debt write-ups could help bridge the gap between Portuguese banks’ NPL bid prices and private equity firms’ ask prices.
Keywords:
WP; coupon rate; capital structure; book value; maturity date; Asset managers; contingent convertibles; asset pricing; nonperforming loans; recovery rate; NPL sale; debt write-up; portfolio acquisition; NPL securitization; Loans; Transfer pricing; Contingent convertible capital; Stocks; Global