The International Monetary Fund has advised countries to evaluate the impact of the financial reforms initiated after the global crisis 10 years ago, and urged them to be attentive towards new risks. Financial technology and cybersecurity are areas that regulators must prioritise, the IMF said.
The world body warned countries against rolling back reforms as it could make the global financial system “less safe” and “jeopardise” stability. “Financial sector reform efforts must continue to be coordinated internationally,” said the IMF on Wednesday. However, risks tend to rise during good times, and they can always migrate to new areas, the IMF said.
The comments came in the report “Regulatory Reform: 10 Years After The Global Financial Crisis: Looking Back, Looking Forward”.
The report said that the broad agenda set by the international community has led to “a more resilient financial system – less leveraged, more liquid, and better and more intensively supervised, especially at large banks”.
The forms of shadow banking more closely related to the earlier financial crisis have been curtailed, said the report. Most countries now have macro-prudential authorities and tools to oversee and contain risks to the financial system, it said, adding that cross-border cooperation in data sharing and systemic risks should be improved.
However, unregulated parts of the banking system could trigger another financial crisis, said the report. “The extended period of ultra-low interest rates in advanced economies has contributed to the build-up of financial vulnerabilities,” it said. “The large accumulation of public debt and the erosion of fiscal buffers in many economies following the crisis point to the urgency of rebuilding those defences to prepare for the next downturn.”
The IMF warned that the earlier action of bailing out institutions would not be possible if a new crisis were to unfold. “Some of the crisis management tools deployed in 2008-’09 are no longer available... suggesting financial rescues in the future may not be able to follow the same playbook,” it said.
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