Biblioteca Digital

The objective of this report is to present an assessment of the current legal, regulatory, and supervisory framework in Albania for microfinance, as well as an assessment of institutions rendering microfinance services (MFIs), including the Savings and Credit Associations (SCAs) and credit unions (CUs), to identify future development priorities. Economic conditions have improved in Albania in recent years, but a significant percentage of the population is still considered below the poverty level. The report lists future development priorities for the SCAs and MFIs, emphasizing poverty reduction through microfinancing. Several MFIs, and one CU, expressed some desire to borrow from the World Bank. The report finds this promising, as long as it does not crowd out commercial sources that serve to integrate MFIs, CUs, and SCAs into the larger financial sector. The growth of SCAs might be enhanced by further consolidation of smaller SCAs into larger SCAs. Mergers based on joint objectives and bounds can expand the geographical coverage and clientele base...

This assessment of accounting and auditing practices in Romania is part of a joint initiative by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to prepare Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC). The assessment focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of the accounting and auditing environment that influence the quality of corporate financial reporting, and includes a review of both statutory requirements and actual practice. It uses International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and International Standards on Auditing (ISA) as benchmarks and draws on international experience and best practices. This assessment updates the findings of the previous accounting and auditing ROSC conducted in Romania in 2002 and published in 2003. It is important to note that there has been significant growth in the credit environment including significant increases in the granting of foreign currency denominated credit. The proportion of loans denominated in foreign currency has risen recently to 50 per cent of all loans granted. Provisions to convert outstanding loan amounts into local currency under certain thresholds often exist in foreign currency denominated loan contracts. These provisions aim to address the potential credit risk arising from the foreign exchange risk borne by the borrowers. While the National Bank of Romania is monitoring the situation closely and requiring higher bank reserves for loans denominated in foreign currency (to curb the growth of such loans)...

The Bank of Lithuania (BoL), the Central Bank, was established in 1990. BoL has the exclusive right to grant and revoke licenses to local and foreign banks and to supervise their activities. Private commercial banking boomed from 1991 to 1994 while bank regulation was lax. In late 1995, a bank crisis caused failures of most of the Lithuanian banks, and the remaining banks resulted in better managed and supervised institutions. BoL also applied tougher regulation on the banking sector. All commercial banks now need to have their financial records audited every year by an international auditing firm. This report includes the following headings: risks and contingency crisis management in the Lithuanian banking system; credit risk and regulatory issues; and description of corporate debt restructuring procedures in Lithuania.

This assessment of the anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) regime of the Arab Republic of Egypt (Egypt) is based on the Forty Recommendations 2003 and the Nine Special Recommendations on Terrorist Financing 2001 of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), andwas prepared using the AML/CFT assessment Methodology 2004, as updated in February 2008. The assessment team considered all the materials supplied by the authorities, the information obtained on site during their mission from 12 to 26 October 2008, and other verifiable information subsequently provided by the authorities. During the mission, the assessment team met with officials and representatives of all relevant government agencies and the private sector. A list of the bodies met is set out in Annex 1 to the detailed assessment report. The assessment was conducted by a team of assessors composed of staff of the World Bank and two experts acting under the supervision of the World Bank. The evaluation team consisted of: Latifah Merican Cheong (Team leader); Cedric Mousset (co-team leader and financial expert)...

International Standard-Setting Bodies (SSBs) and national policy makers-including financial regulators-pursue the core objectives of financial stability, financial integrity and financial consumer protection. These advances challenge financial regulators to consider how to optimize the linkages among the four distinct policy objectives financial inclusion, financial stability, financial integrity, and financial consumer protection. There is good reason to believe that, at the level of outcomes, ISIP objectives may be mutually reinforcing and interdependent: no long term stability without inclusion, for example, and vice versa. In practice, at the policy level, the linkages are less well known and policy makers face choices that are unnecessarily framed as tradeoffs. This report introduces and develops the concept that a proportionate approach to any financial inclusion measure (and specifically to its regulatory and supervisory design and implementation) should seek to optimize the ISIP linkages: maximizing synergies and minimizing tradeoffs and other negative outcomes. In South Africa...

The author examines the corporate governance of banks. When banks efficiently mobilize and allocate funds, this lowers the cost of capital to firms, boosts capital formation, and stimulates productivity growth. So, weak governance of banks reverberates throughout the economy with negative ramifications for economic development. After reviewing the major governance concepts for corporations in general, the author discusses two special attributes of banks that make them special in practice: greater opaqueness than other industries and greater government regulation. These attributes weaken many traditional governance mechanisms. Next, he reviews emerging evidence on which government policies enhance the governance of banks and draws tentative policy lessons. In sum, existing work suggests that it is important to strengthen the ability and incentives of private investors to exert governance over banks rather than to rely excessively on government regulators. These conclusions, however, are particularly tentative because more research is needed on how legal...

The Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) update team found that the authorities have progressed in implementing the key recommendations from the initial assessment. The 2005 FSAP team revealed a number of vulnerabilities, including (i) high credit growth, largely financed by foreign banks, which resulted in rising nonperforming loans (NPLs), and (ii) poor management and low capital of several systematically important state-controlled banks. The Basel Core Principle on Banking Supervision (BCP) assessment identified a number of deficiencies in banking supervision. The update team found that the authorities took action to address the issues highlighted by the 2005 FSAP. In particular, they adopted prudential measures to slow credit growth, including higher risk weights for foreign currency loans to un-hedged borrowers, and exposure limits to households. Two systemic state-controlled banks were privatized. Finally, a new banking law was enacted that significantly strengthened supervision on consolidated basis and improved corporate governance and transparency.

The Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) team produced an Aide Memoire and the following three detailed reports that were reviewed by and delivered to the authorities: 1) technical notes; 2) assessment of compliance with standards and codes; and 3) detailed bank-by-bank stress tests. The Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) section of the report was based on the report of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) technical assistance mission undertaken in April 2004. Although Moldova is the poorest country in Europe, measured by per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the country has achieved some success in building up the framework of a functioning market economy, especially in the banking sector. In addition to the underlying structural weaknesses, there are several potential macroeconomic problems that increase the vulnerability of the financial system. These include: a) the direct financing of the state budget by the central bank against the background of the weak fiscal and external situation; b) dependency on remittances; and c) dollarization...

The securities and derivatives clearing and settlement systems in India are organized around different types of products, which are (1) government securities, money market instruments and forex instruments; (2) corporate securities and financial derivatives; and (3) commodity derivatives. The scope of this assessment is limited to the clearing and settlement systems for the first two sets of products. The different sets are subject to different legal frameworks, different regulatory arrangements and the clearing and settlement systems are operated by different entities. The different securities and derivatives clearing and settlement systems handle a large number of transactions and are as such of systemic importance. Volumes in the derivatives segments increased strongly during the last years. Given the growth and volumes of the commodity derivatives market it is recommended that a detailed self-assessment by the Forwards Market Commission (FMC) and/or an independent assessment of the commodity derivatives clearing and settlement systems be considered in the immediate future.

From February 19 to 28, 2009, a World Bank team undertook a debt management performance assessment (DeMPA) mission to Honiara, Solomon Islands. The objective was to undertake a comprehensive assessment of debt management functions applying the DeMPA tool. The assessment reveals that the Solomon Islands meets the minimum requirements for effective debt management performance as specified by the DeMPA tool on the legal framework, coordination with monetary policy, and debt reporting. While taking note of substantial efforts to improve performance in a number of areas, the assessment also found that the Solomon Islands does not meet the minimum requirements for the indicators assessing the debt management strategy, managerial structure, coordination with fiscal policy, domestic borrowing, cash flow forecasting and cash balance management, debt records, and debt recording. The mission also identified the following areas that require improvement and could be considered priorities for capacity building and reform: evaluation of debt management operations; auditing; external borrowing; loan guarantees...

The securities and derivatives clearing and settlement systems in India are organized around different types of products, which are (1) government securities, money market instruments and forex instruments; (2) corporate securities and financial derivatives; and (3) commodity derivatives. The scope of this assessment is limited to the clearing and settlement systems for the first two sets of products. The different sets are subject to different legal frameworks, different regulatory arrangements and the clearing and settlement systems are operated by different entities. The different securities and derivatives clearing and settlement systems handle a large number of transactions and are as such of systemic importance. Volumes in the derivatives segments increased strongly during the last years. Given the growth and volumes of the commodity derivatives market it is recommended that a detailed self-assessment by the Forwards Market Commission (FMC) and/or an independent assessment of the commodity derivatives clearing and settlement systems be considered in the immediate future.

This practice guide is primarily intended as a reference and guidance for emerging market economies in their migration to a formal macroprudential policy framework. It relies largely on the existing wisdom, knowledge, and experience and was written with the intention of assisting policy makers (and the World Bank staff working with these authorities) in the implementation of macroprudential policy frameworks in jurisdictions with the following characteristics representative of a typical emerging market and developing economy: 1) a simple and bank-dominated financial system where other financial sector segments are much smaller, but growing; 2) banking supervision function is within the central bank; 3) financial sector regulation/supervision is not integrated; 4) uncertain availability of quality data. A macroprudential policy framework is not a silver bullet for safeguarding financial stability. It is also useful to highlight that a macroprudential policy framework cannot take the place of other public policy frameworks. While pursuing macroprudential policy to build a more resilient financial system...

This report concerns the Financial Sector Advisory Centreapos;s (FinSAC) attempt to shed light on the regulations and practices in the areas of identifying and provisioning for loans losses in 26 countries in the Emerging Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. FinSAC aims to deliver policy and technical advice and analytical services to client ECA countries. This reportapos;s analysis is based on a World Bank Survey conducted from 2011 to 2012 on banking supervision. Even though it is often stated that Non Performing Loans (NPL) ratios and provisions are not easily comparable across jurisdictions, NPLs and their provisions in the European and Central Asian (ECA) region are frequently charted and analyzed across multiple jurisdictions. As a result of the lack of harmonized regulations in this area, concerns regarding the consistency of loan quality assessments are frequently raised, particularly with respect to the distinction between performing and non performing exposures, provisions for non performing exposures...

This paper examines the effects of expanding access to credit on the decisions and welfare of households. It focuses on the entry of Banco Azteca, the first bank in Mexico targeting households from the informal sector. Panel data suggest that informal households in municipalities with Banco Azteca branches experienced several changes in their saving, credit and consumption patterns. In order to estimate the impact of Azteca's entry, the paper develops a dynamic model of household choices in which the bank is endogenously selecting the municipalities for branch openings. The analysis finds that in municipalities in which the bank entered, households were better able to smooth their consumption and accumulate more durable goods even though the overall proportion of households that save went down by 6.6 percent. These results suggest that the use of savings as a buffer on income fluctuations declines once formal credit is available. What is more, these effects vary across households. Among informal households...

Mongolia was one of the East Asian economies hardest hit by the global downturn, as copper prices collapsed and external demand fell. With the recovery in economic activity currently well underway, but the policy challenges highlighted by the crisis yet to be fully addressed, this economic retrospective examines the key economic, financial, and policy developments from mid 2008 to April 2010. Collapsing mineral prices and a steep drop in external demand due to the global downturn of 2008 and 2009 were the external shocks which were transmitted to Mongolia's economy. This shock exposed underlying weaknesses in the economic structure and policy environment. More generally, now is the time to put in place a strong policy framework to manage the upcoming mining boom and avoid the mistakes of the past. The looming mining boom brings the risks of "Dutch disease" effects and a return to the profligate populism of the past. Measures to address these risks include the recently adopted fiscal stability law that will help the country move away from the fiscal boom and bust cycles of the past; improvements to the budget process and the planning and management of public investments in order to more efficiently absorb the large projected increases in revenues; and appropriate policy frameworks to support future infrastructure investment. Implementing a targeted poverty benefit should also ensure the poor are protected from mining boom and busts in a fiscally sustainable manner. Finally...

This toolkit is designed to assist authorities in resolving troubled banks. It provides generic forms that can be adapted for use in planning supervisory actions or implementing resolution processes. This toolkit contains forms that are generic and will need to be tailored to the particular country laws and circumstances. The toolkit also contains a least cost or lesser cost model and explanatory guide that provide diagnostic tools to assist authorities in estimating the costs of various resolution methods. The least cost or lesser cost model can also be used to value various assets that may be offered for sale as part of the resolution process. In some circumstances, the decision will be made to liquidate a bank at the end of a long period of utilizing other supervisory tools to try to rehabilitate the bank, thereby providing the authorities with adequate time to gather information about the problem bank and prepare a plan for its closure. In other circumstances, the authorities will have little time to plan for a bank's closing and will have to rely on their general crisis preparedness tools to handle the resolution process as efficiently as possible. Whichever circumstances are present...

This paper analyzes the impact of two distinct shocks stemming from the cross-border transmission of the 2007-2009 crisis on credit availability for small firms. The paper uses data from AccessBank Azerbaijan which was affected in its liquidity position during the second and third quarters of 2008 by delays in its refinancing. The Azeri real economy was hit by the global crisis from the fourth quarter of 2008 onwards with a combined decline in oil prices, exports, remittances, and domestic demand. Therefore, a pure supply side shock con be contrasted with a real economy shock that hit exactly when the bank's funding position strengthened again. The paper finds that during the funding shock (potential) borrowers are discouraged from applying for loans. However, for those applications made, the likelihood of loan approval is not affected. The real economy shock, in contrast, reduces the approval likelihood for SME loans in particular, while agro and micro loans are considerably less affected. Finally, bank relationships increase credit availability in good as well as in bad times.

It is no exaggeration to say that Eritrea is at a cross-roads today. The war with Ethiopia meant that the development plans and programs gradually put into place since independence were disrupted. The signing of the peace agreement in December 2000, and the ruling of the boundary commission on April 13, 2002, are all-important, but it is clear that the conditions facing Eritrea are significantly more difficult than prior to the war. Not only are the direct costs of the war very high, but the break in economic relations with Ethiopia and the loss of investor confidence will continue to exact a price for some years to come. It is in this context that the Government has decided to review its development strategy and has asked for World Bank input into this process. In response, the Bank has prepared this Country Economic Memorandum (CEM). It follows the first CEM on Eritrea (World Bank 1994) that provided a Bank and donor input as independent Eritrea refined its development strategy. The CEM is divided into three chapters. The first is a review of Eritrea's development experience since independence...

Before the onset of the global financial crisis in late 2008, countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA) experienced strong economic growth. Demand for electricity increased steadily with gross domestic product (GDP). GDP grew, on average, 6.5 percent between 2000 and 2007, and electricity consumption per capita grew 2.75 percent. Meanwhile, energy security and supply reliability were a growing concern for policymakers and planners. Despite increased access to financing through the opening of international financial markets, under-maintenance of old soviet-era power sector infrastructure created a backlog of critical investments threatening the stability of the sector. As a result, a gap between demand and available supply capacity was beginning to emerge. This report analyzes the impacts of the financial crisis on power sectors in the ECA region through the experience of five countries (the study countries); Armenia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Romania, Serbia, and Ukraine. The report's objective is to help policymakers in the region plan and prioritize electricity sector investments in the wake of the financial crisis...

From November 8 to 17, 2010, a World Bank team undertook a Debt Management Performance Assessment (DeMPA) mission to Tirana, Albania. The mission's objective was to prepare a comprehensive assessment of government debt management functions by applying the DeMPA methodology. This report presents the results of the assessment, based on the December 2009 version of the DeMPA tool. The assessment reveals that Albania meets the requirements for the A score in eleven dimensions assessed the B score in five dimensions, the C score in twelve dimensions, and the D score in five dimensions. Of more than 50 countries assessed by the World Bank under the DeMPA program so far, Albania stands out as one of the few which has sound debt management practices in the largest number of areas as defined by the DeMPA methodology. Albanian economy is highly dependent on remittances. Sectors that rely on remittances construction, wholesale and retail, and other services together account for over 60 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and has been the backbone of the country's strong growth. Large capital inflows (remittances...