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International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
This technical note highlights macroprudential policy in Iceland. Macroprudential policy in Iceland recently has centered on the property market, given the importance of this market for households’ balance sheets, banks’ loan portfolios, and the potential systemic risks. The Central Bank of Iceland (CBI) has a strong institutional framework for macroprudential policy, assuring the willingness to act. The macroprudential framework also promotes the ability to act promptly. As the financial supervisor, the CBI has control over prudential tools; it may exercise its power as necessary to ensure financial stability. The institutional arrangements encourage effective cooperation and coordination with other institutions. CBI surveillance and systemic risk assessment rely on comprehensive quantitative information and constructive dialogue with the industry as well as on various models and stress tests. The strong analytical capacity for systemic risk monitoring can be further enhanced by filling data gaps and enriching models. While recent measures go in the right direction, the authorities should stand ready to take further actions if vulnerabilities persist.
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
This technical note focuses on cyber and operational resilience, supervision and oversight in Iceland. The Icelandic financial sector has not experienced seriously disruptive cyber-attacks or operational issues in recent years, but threats are growing. Iceland’s dependence on international connectivity for both debit and credit card systems introduces a significant vulnerability into the payment system. There is no dedicated cyber security strategy for the finance sector. Operational risk experts in the Central Bank of Iceland (CBI) are experienced and well regarded by financial institutions, but more resources are needed to provide adequate coverage of this increasingly important area. The supervision of financial institutions’ cybersecurity is highly dependent on self-assessments by the regulated entities themselves and independent reviews carried out by third parties. CBI should regularly revise the list of critical operations and critical service providers for internal use and for presentation to the Financial Stability Committee and Financial Stability Council. CBI is encouraged to enhance its incident dashboard by summarizing cyber incidents and examining trends.
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper on Switzerland focuses on assessing Swiss National Bank (SNB) balance sheet changes in 2022. This paper clarifies the main underlying drivers, discusses potential implications, or lack thereof, on monetary and fiscal policies, and assesses the SNB’s financial performance. Central banks’ financial results are not directly comparable with each other, given their non-profit nature, the differences in their mandates and, importantly, their different accounting policies. In particular, many other central banks would have recorded much larger financial losses in 2022 if mark-to-market accounting were applied. The SNB’s financial loss in 2022 is not expected to have an impact on monetary policy operations. The SNB has appropriately warned about risks to its balance sheet, including during periods of high profitability. In addition, the SNB put in place sound safeguards against such risks, and provided transparent communications on its investment strategy. Nevertheless, large balance sheets are subject to risks, highlighting communication challenges during periods of both large profits and losses. In this context, the SNB should continue to regularly review its investment strategy and maintain adequate safeguards.
International Monetary Fund. Statistics Dept.
At the request of the Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU), and with the support of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) Western Hemisphere Department (WHD), a monetary and financial statistics (MFS) technical assistance (TA) mission from the IMF’s Statistics Department (STA) visited Montevideo during February 3-14, 2020. The main objectives of the mission were to: (i) review available source data for other financial corporations (OFC); in particular, insurance corporations (IC), pension funds (PF), and credit administration companies (CAC); and (ii) compile standardized monetary statistics for OFC (report form SRF 4SR) in line with the 2016 Monetary and Financial Statistics Manual and Compilation Guide (MFSMCG). The officials met during the mission are listed in Appendix I.
International Monetary Fund. Statistics Dept.

Abstract

The 2019 Financial Soundness Indicators Compilation Guide (2019 Guide) includes new indicators to expand the coverage of the financial sector, including other financial intermediaries, money market funds, insurance corporations, pension funds, nonfinancial corporations, and households. In all, the 2019 Guide recommends the compilation of 50 FSIs—13 of them new. Additions such as new capital, liquidity and asset quality metrics, and concentration and distribution measures will serve to enhance the forward-looking aspect of FSIs and contribute to increase policy focus on stability of the financial system.

Mr. Eugenio M Cerutti
and
Mr. Gee Hee Hong
Superficial examination of aggregate gross cross-border capital inflow data suggests that there was no substitution between portfolio inflows and bank loans in recent years. However, our novel analysis of disaggregate inflows (both by types of instrument and borrower) shows interesting heterogeneity. There has been substitution of bank loans for portfolio debt securities not only in the case of corporate and sovereign borrowers in advanced countries, but also sovereign borrowers in emerging countries. In the case of corporate borrowers in emerging markets, the relationship corresponds to complementarity across types of gross capital inflows, especially during periods of positive capital gross inflows after the global financial crisis. A large part of these patterns does not seem to be driven by a common phenomenon across countries associated with the global financial cycle, but rather by country-specific factors.
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This paper offers elements of a possible strategy to deal with San Marino’s nonperforming loans (NPLs). It provides a brief overview of the reasons behind the accumulation of impaired assets by Sammarinese banks. This paper also presents some stylized facts regarding the nature and composition of San Marino’s problem loans. Further, it summarizes the experience of other small economies in dealing with weak banks and NPLs, with a view to drawing policy lessons. This paper also discusses recent measures implemented by the Sammarinese authorities to address weak financial institutions and their problem assets and examines the main impediments to deal with NPLs in San Marino’s legal and tax framework.
Galina Hale
,
Mr. Tümer Kapan
, and
Ms. Camelia Minoiu
We study the transmission of financial sector shocks across borders through international bank connections. For this purpose, we use data on long-term interbank loans among more than 6,000 banks during 1997-2012 to construct a yearly global network of interbank exposures. We estimate the effect of direct (first-degree) and indirect (second-degree) exposures to countries experiencing systemic banking crises on bank profitability and loan supply. We find that direct exposures to crisis countries squeeze banks' profit margins, thereby reducing their returns. Indirect exposures to crisis countries enhance this effect, while indirect exposures to non-crisis countries mitigate it. Furthermore, crisis exposures have real effects in that they reduce banks' supply of domestic and cross-border loans. Our results, based on a large global sample, support the notion that interconnected financial systems facilitate shock transmission.
Nadège Jassaud
and
Mr. Kenneth H Kang
Addressing the buildup of nonperforming loans (NPLs) in Italy since the global financial crisis will remain a challenge for some time and be important for supporting a sustained, robust economic recovery. The buildup reflects both the prolonged recession as well as structural factors that have held back NPL write-offs by banks. The paper discusses the impediments to NPL resolution in Italy and a strategy for fostering a market for restructuring distressed assets that could support corporate and financial restructuring.