José Viñals

The quest for lasting financial stability is still fraught with risks. The latest Global Financial Stability Report has two key messages: policy actions have brought gains to global financial stability since our September report; but current policy efforts are not enough to achieve lasting stability, both in Europe...

Since September of last year, risks to global financial stability have deepened, notably in the euro area.
However, over the past few weeks, markets have been encouraged by measures to provide liquidity to banks and sovereigns in the euro area. This recent improvement should not be taken for granted,...

We are back in the danger zone. Since the IMF's previous Global Financial Stability Report, financial stability risks have increased substantially -- reversing some of the progress that had been made over the previous three years.

Several shocks have recently buffeted the global financial system: unequivocal signs...

It was fitting that I should present our latest assessment of global financial stability in Sao Paulo, the financial center of one of the leading emerging economies. In common with many of its peers in Latin America, Brazil is recovering strongly from the crisis. But new financial stability...

When the global financial system was thrown into crisis, many policymakers were shocked to discover a gaping hole in their policy toolkit.

They have since made significant progress in developing macroprudential policy measures aimed at containing system-wide risks in the financial sector. Yet progress has been uneven. Greater...

In various guises, the "Year of Living Dangerously" has been used to describe the global financial crisis, the policy response to the crisis, and its aftermath.

But, we've slipped well beyond a year and the financial system is still flirting with danger. Durable financial stability has, so far,...

The risk free nature of government bonds, one of the cornerstones of the global financial system, has come into question as the global crisis unfolds.

One thing is now very clear: government bonds are no longer the risk-free assets they once were. This carries far reaching implications for policymakers, central...

This morning, I presented our latest views on global financial stability in Johannesburg, South Africa.

So, where does the global financial system stand at the moment? Yes, we have witnessed improvements recently, but we are also observing a dichotomy between the economy and the financial system. While the...

It would be unfair for any assessment of global economic and financial stability not to acknowledge that tremendous progress has been made in repairing and strengthening the financial system since the onset of the global crisis.

Still, the key message from the IMF's October 2010 Global Financial Stability...

Fearful financial markets, an uncertain growth outlook, fiscal anxieties, long unemployment lines....no other financial crisis since the Great Depression has led to such widespread dislocation in financial markets, with such abrupt consequences for growth, trade, and employment.

The crisis exposed fundamental weaknesses in many areas of the world economy, the...

Monetary stability seems almost a given today, even taken for granted. It wasn't always like that. Not so long ago, high and volatile inflation routinely raised its ugly head and threatened living standards. Some of us even remember those days! It wasn't pleasant. But since then, an effective antidote has...

Financial system reform has reached a critical point around the world. Pressure is building from the financial industry to slow reform and concerns about fiscal conditions risk drawing public and political energies away from the need to act on financial sector problems. Fortunately, the Group of Twenty (G-20)...

Financial supervisors often get a raw deal. They are the stodgy "buttoned-up" guys who stand in the way of innovation, the dyed-in-the-wool bureaucrats who resist change and meddle with markets. On the list of thankless jobs they rank somewhere between traffic wardens and tax administrators.

And yet, as the global...

Let me begin with our overall assessment of global financial stability. The IMF has just released its new Global Financial Stability Report. We find that risks to stability have eased somewhat. The policy stimulus enacted at the height of the crisis has provided substantial support to financial institutions...