This report provides an assessment of the British Virgin Islands’s (BVI) compliance with the Basel Core Principle for effective banking supervision. The BVI has the preconditions for effective banking supervision. It has specific legislation governing international cooperation and mutual...

This Report reviews the Observance of Standards and Codes on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations for Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) for Japan. The assessment reveals that Japan has made good progress in bringing its regime for AML/CFT...

The Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Program (EDPRP) was developed with the active participation and support of society, executive authorities, nongovernment organizations, academia, businessmen, and donors. The study additionally provides coordinated mechanisms for bilateral and...

This 2005 Article IV Consultation highlights that Norway’s real mainland GDP growth rebounded strongly in 2004, after a slowdown that began in late 2002. Very supportive monetary conditions, high oil prices, rising housing prices, strengthening consumer and business confidence, and an...

This paper focuses on the nexus between pension funds' balance sheet liabilities, reflecting their age profile and payments obligations, and the investment behavior and costs of these funds. The context of the analysis is the stringent regulatory framework and the highly fragmented and...

The financial market turmoil of recent months has highlighted the importance of counterparty risk. Here, we discuss counterparty risk that may stem from the OTC derivatives markets and attempt to assess the scope of potential cascade effects. This risk is measured by losses to the financial...

This paper analyzes the dynamic interactions between the precision of information, technological development, and welfare within an overlapping generations model. More precise information about idiosyncratic production shocks has ambiguous effects on technological progress and welfare, which...

While SWFs as a group share broad common institutional and operational practices, these practices also differ considerably reflecting the diversity of these institutions. These differences derive from the nature of the SWF (i.e., their original intent) as well as its legal personality. Thus,...

Measuring and managing exchange rate risk exposure is important for reducing a firm's vulnerabilities from major exchange rate movements, which could adversely affect profit margins and the value of assets. This paper reviews the traditional types of exchange rate risk faced by firms, namely...

This paper focuses on asset allocation decisions of life insurance companies in emerging markets. Mature market insurers allocate only a small fraction of their assets to emerging markets because of regulatory constraints, rating pressures, and currency risk. However, global insurers invest...