Closer cooperation between neighbouring countries has throughout the ages been part of their respective political agendas. In many regions of the world, the desire to create efficient economic spaces, and eventually perhaps even political union, has been one of the driving forces behind...

There are a number of international initiatives that have the goal of improving or maintaining financial stability by strengthening financial infrastructure. The Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS) contributed to this process through its work on developing Core Principles for...

This main sections of this annotated bibliography were prepared by the author between 1998 and 2002. The revisions undertaken until January 2006 are selective and do not claim to be complete. The paper has no official character and merely reflects the views of the author. Its purpose is to...

Text presented at the 19ª Asamblea Anual del Grupo Regional de América Latina y el Caribe (GRULAC), of the World Savings Banks Institute, La Habana, Cuba, 4-5 November 2013. It mentions some of the more recent international reform initiatives in particular those linked to the Basel Committee...

Annotated presentation made at the conference “Hacia una Mayor Competitividad e Integración de América Latina y el Caribe: la contribución de la banca de desarrollo”,on the occasion of the ALIDE Annual Meeting, Asunción, Paraguay, 19-20 May 2011. The paper describes first how regional...

This is the English version of the annotaded presentation given at XI Encuentro Latinoamericano de Usuarios SWIFT (SWIFT users conference), ELUS 2006, “Creciendo en Competitividad”, Santiago de Chile, 3-5 July 2006. Given the importance of financial intermediation for the economy and the...

Given the importance of financial intermediation and financial infrastructures such as payment systems for the economy, countries have established entities to supervise or oversee the well functioning of instutions, systems and networks. This paper is based on a presentaion made at XI...

The text explores generally whether recommendations relating to deposit insurance are international guidleines or mandatory rules, explores the role of deposit insurance as one of several elements in the financial safety net, and offers an outlook to a future with more research and cross-border...

Annotated remarks made at the 50th Anniversary Conference “Fortalecimiento institucional de los bancos centrales y efectividad de la política monetaria”, of the Central Bank of Nicaragua, February 2010. The paper lays out the importance of institutional strenthening (governance) as an...