Making Electronic Money Safer in the Digital Age
As e-money use grows, regulators need to focus on consumer protection and the integrity of the overall payments system.
Crypto Boom Poses New Challenges to Financial Stability
As crypto assets take hold, regulators need to step up.
Making The Digital Money Revolution Work for All
By Tobias Adrian and Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli
History moves in uneven steps. Just as the telegraph erased time and distance in the 19th century, today’s innovations in digital money may bring significant changes in the way we lead our lives. The shift to electronic payments and social interactions brought on by the pandemic may cause similarly rapid and widespread transformations. […]
From Stablecoins to Central Bank Digital Currencies
By Tobias Adrian and Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli
As privately issued stablecoins continue to encroach on more traditional forms of money—like cash and bank deposits—policymakers will not simply look on from the sidelines. […]
Ten Years After Lehman—Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead
September 5, 2018
عربي, Baˈhasa indoneˈsia, Español, 中文, Français, 日本語, Português, Русский
A trader on the New York Stock Exchange the day US investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy: the global crisis that followed is a defining moment of our time (Photo: Nancy-Kaszerman/ZUMA Press/Newscom)
The global financial crisis remains one of the defining events of our time. It will forever mark the generation that lived through it. […]
A Bumpy Road Ahead for the Global Financial System
April 18, 2018
Versions in عربي (Arabic), 中文 (Chinese), Español (Spanish), Français (French), 日本語 (Japanese), Português (Portuguese), Русский (Russian)
An unexpected increase in inflation could prompt the Federal Reserve and other central banks to raise interest rates faster than currently anticipated, roiling financial markets (photo: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Newscom).
The current economic environment remains favorable, but short-term risks to global financial stability have increased in the past six months, as a result of a spike in stock-market volatility in February and continuing investor concerns about rising geopolitical and trade tensions. Looking ahead, the odds of a downturn remain elevated, and there’s even a small chance of a global economic contraction over the medium-term. […]
Risky Business: Reading Credit Flows for Crisis Signals
By Claudio Raddatz Kiefer and Jérôme Vandenbussche
April 10, 2018
Versions in عربي (Arabic), 中文 (Chinese), Español (Spanish), Français (French), 日本語 (Japanese), Português (Portuguese), Русский (Russian)
The odds of a severe economic downturn are higher when a growing portion of credit flows to riskier firms, according to a new IMF study (Photo: Pali 137/ iStock by Getty Images).
Supervisors who monitor the health of the financial system know that a rapid buildup of debt during an economic boom can spell trouble down the road. That is why they keep a close eye on the overall volume of credit in the economy. When companies go on a borrowing spree, supervisors and regulators may decide to put the brakes on credit growth.
Trouble is, measuring credit volume overlooks an important question: how much of that additional money flows to riskier companies – which are more likely to default in times of trouble—compared with more creditworthy firms? The IMF’s latest Global Financial Stability Report seeks to fill that gap by constructing measures of the riskiness of […]
For Home Prices in London, Check the Tokyo Listings
By Claudio Raddatz Kiefer and Jane Dokko
April, 10, 2018
Versions in عربي (Arabic); 中文 (Chinese), Español (Spanish), Français (French), 日本語 (Japanese), Português (Portuguese)
Hong Kong viewed from Victoria Peak. House prices across countries and cities are increasingly moving in tandem (Photo: Fraser Hall/Robert Harding/Newscom).
If house prices are rising in Tokyo, are they also going up in London?
Increasingly, the answer is yes.
In recent decades, house prices around the world have shown a growing tendency to move in the same direction at the same time. What accounts for this phenomenon, and what are the implications for the world economy? These are questions that IMF economists explore in Chapter 3 of the latest Global Financial Stability Report. […]
Fintech Quiz: How Much Do You Know?
By IMFBlog
March 12, 2018
Rapid advances in digital technology are transforming the financial services landscape (iStock by Getty Images).
From artificial intelligence to cryptography, rapid advances in digital technology are transforming the financial services landscape, creating opportunities and challenges for consumers, service providers, and regulators alike. This new wave of technology is often called “fintech” and the industry is thriving. Consumers worldwide are using two or more fintech services, sometimes without knowing they are using fintech services. […]
Structural Reforms Give Biggest Help To Lagging Countries
By Angana Banerji and Christian Ebeke
September 22, 2017
Structural reforms can jumpstart productivity in countries with weaker initial productivity, and help them catch up with their peers (photo: The Palmer/iStock).
Labor and product market reforms, which make economies more efficient, can benefit all countries. But they are especially helpful in jumpstarting productivity in countries where productivity is weaker. This is good news as it implies that reforms are one route through which countries with lower per capita incomes can catch up with richer countries instead of persistently lagging behind: economic hardship is not destiny. Our new paper provides fresh arguments in favor of the often-difficult structural reforms. […]