Impact Stories

KYRGYZ REPUBLIC: Banking Supervision (IMF Implementation)

A long-term expert in bank supervision began a one-year assignment in Bishkek in January 2016, with financing from FIRST. The 2013 FSAP for the Kyrgyz Republic had found progress but also continued weaknesses in the banking supervisory function. Among the areas identified for improvement were training supervisory staff, enhancing the legal framework, and implementing an RBS process. Some supervisory tools had been developed, including supervisory manuals and memoranda of understanding with foreign supervisors, and there was a need to institutionalize their consistent application. The National...

Kyrgyz Republic

Banking

SRI LANKA: Implementing Risk-Based Supervision (RBS) in Insurance

CHALLENGE The insurance sector in Sri Lanka is relatively underdeveloped compared with that in other countries, with total insurance premiums representing about 3.2 percent of the financial system at the time of project inception. Although the sector has grown strongly in recent years, it is thought that less than 10 percent of the population has any form of insurance. Moreover, the market for insurance is highly competitive. Although foreign insurance companies are free to enter the market, they have had only a modest impact. Starting in 2010 there was growth in new businesses, especially...

Sri Lanka

Insurance

NIGERIA: Strengthening Deposit Insurance Reserve Targeting

CHALLENGE Nigeria’s financial system is large, with assets equivalent to 51 percent of GDP at the end of 2012. Banks dominate the system, with 79 percent of all assets. In 2008–09, the financial system experienced a severe banking crisis, triggered in part by the global financial crisis and in part by domestic events. Although the decisive policy responses by authorities succeeded in restoring financial stability, the recent declines in oil prices have taken their toll on the economy and public finances, putting pressure on the financial sector. With the corporate sector accounting for 80...

Nigeria

Macroprudential, Financial Safety Net & Crisis Preparedness

MEXICO: Strengthening Risk-Based Banking Supervision

CHALLENGE Mexico is a middle-income country. Since the mid-nineties, the growth of its financial sector has significantly outpaced that of the rest of its economy. Although it does lag regional peers in both financial inclusion and depth, the financial sector is expected to continue to grow at a strong pace, and thus, if not effectively monitored, could increase risks to the country’s financial stability. The National Banking and Securities Commission (Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores, CNBV) recognized several potential challenges early on and began reforming the sector in 2006. By...

Mexico

Banking

MONGOLIA: Payment Systems Strategy and Oversight Framework

CHALLENGE With the rapid growth of Mongolia’s economy, the importance of payment systems and the need to build the capacity of the Bank of Mongolia (BOM) to regulate and oversee them continues to increase. Developing safe and efficient NPS infrastructure in line with international standards is crucial to supporting the development of the financial sector and the further economic development of the country. The BOM has made significant progress in improving Mongolia’s payment systems in the last 10 years. In 2006, the Switch and Clearing Center was established as part of a World Bank project...

Mongolia

Financial and Information Infrastructures

INDONESIA: Upgrading Payment Systems

CHALLENGE Bank Indonesia requested the World Bank’s support in implementing an upgrade of its RTGS system (called BI-RTGS) and its scripless securities settlement system (called BI-SSSS), the two most important market infrastructures in the Indonesian financial market. Bank Indonesia had been undertaking a project to upgrade the two systems since 2011. The bank’s original plan was to take these interconnected upgrades live by 2013; however, it had encountered a series of challenges in the preparation and implementation stages. Nonetheless, given the importance and urgency of the project, the...

Indonesia

Financial and Information Infrastructures

ETHIOPIA: Strengthening National Payment Systems

CHALLENGE In 2008, Ethiopia had a largely unbanked population and an economy in which cash was a predominant means of payment. Checks were the dominant non-cash-based payment instrument; however, these were mainly supported by manual, paper-based systems for clearing and processing. The lack of check standards established and adopted by member banks in the clearinghouse meant that there was no common foundation for quality printing and processing of checks and therefore put at risk both safety and efficiency in the payment system. Overall, the retail payment infrastructure was highly...

Ethiopia

Financial and Information Infrastructures

DJIBOUTI: Upgrading the Financial Sector Infrastructure

CHALLENGE The NPS in Djibouti is at a very rudimentary stage of development. It is dominated by cash and physical exchanges of paper instruments, and lacks the basic infrastructure to support the development of the financial sector and financial inclusion. The only interbank system in Djibouti is the manual check clearinghouse operated by the Central Bank of Djibouti (CBD).* 1 The lack of efficient payment products is problematic for companies (large and small), merchants, government agencies, and customers. It impedes efforts to modernize the financial sector and limits access by the...

Djibouti

Financial and Information Infrastructures

KAZAKHSTAN: Setting the Foundation for a National Catastrophe Insurance Scheme

CHALLENGE Since 2004, authorities in Kazakhstan have partnered with the World Bank and the FIRST Initiative to reform and improve regulatory supervision of the insurance sector. In 2009–10, the FIRST-financed project called Strengthening Catastrophe Risk Transfer Supervision made possible sound supervision of catastrophe risk insurance in the country*. This led to an important, albeit small, share of homeowners enjoying the protection of such insurance. The insurance market has become more stable; however, with a population of more than 15 million, private insurance barely covered 1 percent...

Kazakhstan

Insurance

COSTA RICA: The Outcomes- and Risk-Based Supervision Approach in Pensions

CHALLENGE In 2013, the Costa Rican pension system was growing steadily in volume and complexity; to sustain stability, the legal and regulatory frameworks that defined the system required reforms. There were over 2.5 million individual entitlements, with coverage for the population of 4.8 million, which was high relative to regional comparators*, and a rapidly growing asset base that exceeded US$14 billion, over 26 percent of GDP in 2014. The Superintendencia de Pensiones (SUPEN; Supervisor of Pensions), established in 1995, is responsible for regulating and supervising all pension funds and...

Costa Rica

Pensions