This paper presents Finland’s Financial System Stability Assessment report. Finland has further improved the regulation and supervision of its financial sector since the 2016 Financial Sector Assessment Program, in part driven by European legislation and institutions. The size of the banking sector increased significantly in 2018 with the redomicilation of Nordea. Finland weathered the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic well relative to other economies, with fiscal support and interventions from the authorities. However, Finland is now navigating a weaker economic outlook given the war in Ukraine and ensuing energy crisis, despite limited direct financial exposures to Russia. Risks to financial stability come from a large banking sector, which is highly concentrated and dominated by a few institutions, and is interconnected with other financial systems in the Nordic region. Stress tests indicate that the banking system appears resilient to severe macro-financial shocks but remains vulnerable to liquidity shocks. Resolution and crisis management should be supported by greater coordination of authorities’ preparation and management of future crises.
The paper analyzes the quality of financial sector regulation and supervision around the globe. Unlike studies that collect and analyze data on regulation and supervision "on the books," this study also analyzes available information on supervisory implementation, making use of data from IMF-World Bank assessments of compliance with international standards and codes. Incorporating supervisory implementation into the study provides an improved means of assessing countries' regulatory systems. We find that countries' regulatory frameworks score on average one notch below full compliance with the standards (on a 4-notch scale). There are substantial differences in the quality of regulatory and supervisory frameworks across countries, with the income level being a major factor.