Advances in risk measurement technology have reshaped financial markets and the functioning of the financial system. More recently, they have been reshaping the prudential framework. Looking forward, they have the potential to reshape financial reporting too. Recent initiatives to improve...

What information about the financial condition of firms is conducive to efficient and stable operation of the financial system and of the economy more broadly? In this essay, we outline the contours of an ideal set of such information, identify existing gaps and propose a way forward to fill...

The unfolding financial turmoil in mature economies has prompted the official and private sectors to reconsider policies, business models and risk management practices. Regardless of its future evolution, it already threatens to become one of the defining economic moments of the 21st century....

With the insight of 130 years of history, this paper tries to answer three questions: how did changing international monetary and financial conditions shape the targets and tools of central bank cooperation? What factors influenced its intensity? Did a structured organisation, such as the BIS,...

This paper explores primarily how financial arrangements may be responsible for creating or exacerbating inflationary pressures in Yugoslavia. The ways in which financial arrangements can contribute to inflation are discussed under three different headings: misallocation of savings and credit,...

The paper outlines the evolution of the financial industry across industrialised countries since liberalisation gathered momentum in the 1980s and assesses its implications for prudential regulation and supervision, paying particular attention to changes in the degree of compartmentalisation...

This paper argues that financial imbalances can build up in a low inflation environment and that in some circumstances it is appropriate for policy to respond to contain these imbalances. While identifying financial imbalances ex ante can be difficult, this paper presents empirical evidence that...

Over the last decade or so, addressing financial instability has risen to the top of the policy agenda. This essay argues that in order to improve the safeguards against financial instability, it may be desirable to strengthen further the macroprudential orientation of current prudential...

Since the 1980s, a number of episodes of financial market distress have underscored the importance of the smooth functioning of markets for the stability of the financial system. At the heart of these episodes was a sudden and drastic reduction in market liquidity, characterised by disorderly...

This paper examines the sharp rise in bond yield volatility across the major bond markets in 1994. The analysis covers thirteen industrialised countries and is largely based on OTC data for implied bond yield volatility. We conclude that the market's own dynamics seem to provide a stronger...