Financial Markets, Insurance and Pensions

About Statistics Publications & Documents Information by Country

Financial Market Trends No.96

10-Jul-2009

While financial markets deteriorated, government actions helped to avert an even bigger crisis. Despite some signs of recovery banks are not yet on solid footing. Recent government programmes dealing with ‘toxic assets’ are welcome, but more needs to be done. These are headline topics of this FMT edition which focuses on issues related to the financial and economic crisis, including articles on corporate governance lessons, government guarantees for financial institutions, private pensions, sovereign borrowing, government debt issuance, and the role of stock exchanges in corporate governance.

Financial Literacy and Consumer Protection: Overlooked Aspects of the Crisis - Release of OECD’s Recommendation on Good Practices on Financial Education and Awareness Relating to Credit

07-Jul-2009

Financial services firms must make sure their customers understand what they are letting themselves in for when they sign up for mortgages, consumer loans and other products, under new OECD guidelines designed to avoid a repeat of the sub-prime mortgage crisis and ensuing credit crunch that sent the world economy into recession.

OECD calls for strengthening pension fund governance in its revised regulatory principles

07-Jul-2009

The OECD has just issued new guidance for private pension systems that calls for stronger regulation and better governance.

The OECD Core Principles of Occupational Pension Regulation lay out a blueprint for policymakers to improve the regulation and supervision of private pension systems, covering the various aspects of the operation of these syetems, such as licensing, governance, funding, investment and the rights of pension plan members.

Private Pensions and Policy Responses to the Crisis

23-Jun-2009

This report describes why occupational pensions play a major role in OECD countries and worldwide, complementing retirement income from state sources. Their financial importance is highlighted by the volume of assets they manage on behalf of plan members, USD 22 trillion at the end of 2008. Population ageing has also led many OECD countries to undertake a wide range of pension reforms – the overall effect of which has been to reduce public pension promises and in turn to increase the importance of private pension savings for retirement.

OECD research supports risk-sharing in private pension arrangements

23-Jun-2009

A new article ("Evaluating Risk Sharing in Private Pension Plans") analyses the main trade-offs embedded in different pension arrangements. The stochastic simulations performed show that hybrid plans (those in between traditional DB and individual DC) appear to offer efficient and sustainable forms of risk sharing.

Second Conference on the Financial Management of Large-Scale Catastrophes, Bangkok, 24-25 September 2009

from 24-Sep-2009 to 25-Sep-2009

The 2nd Conference organised under the auspices of the OECD International Network on the Financial Management of Large-Scale Catastrophes (“OECD Network”) is scheduled to take place in Bangkok, Thailand, on 24-25 September, 2009. This international event will be hosted by the Office of Insurance Commission (OIC) of Thailand, with the sponsorship of the Government of Japan. 

Finance, Competition and Governance: Priorities for Reform and Strategies to Phase-Out Emergency Measures

18-Jun-2009

This report describes issues that must be addressed to restore public confidence in financial markets and to put incentives in place to encourage a prudent balance between risk and the search for return in (broadly-defined) banking.

Dealing with the financial crisis and thinking about the exit strategy

11-Jun-2009

This article looks at the stages of financial crisis management and some of the different degrees of transparency on losses and risks in the US and Europe. It compares alternative approaches to dealing with impaired assets used in the US and Europe, examines the capital needs of banks where exposure to off-balance losses remains a key issue and outlines the requirements of longer-run reform.

OECD governments are coping with exploding borrowing needs

11-Jun-2009

A new article (OECD Sovereign Borrowing Outlook 2009)  projects that gross borrowing needs of OECD governments are expected to reach almost USD 12 trillion in 2009. In response, sovereign debt managers have begun to plan or implement medium-term exit strategies to avoid future “crowding out” and issuance problems. A related article (New Challenges in the Use of Government Debt Issuance Procedures, Techniques and Policies in OECD Markets) explains that the ongoing crisis has prompted a review of sovereign issuance procedures and policies.

Public Consultation: Draft General Guidance on a Policy Framework for Effective and Efficient Financial Regulation and High-level Checklist

18-May-2009

The OECD invited public comments on draft General Guidance on a Policy Framework for Effective and Efficient Financial Regulation and a related High-level Checklist.   The General Guidance contains principles that should be adopted or considered to promote an effective and efficient framework for government intervention and regulation in the financial system.

Private pensions and policy responses to the financial and economic crisis

21-Apr-2009

This paper discusses responses to the current financial and economic crisis by regulators, supervisors and policy makers in the area of private pensions. It focuses on the role of private pensions in complementing public systems and on how to design pension systems to introduce some degree of protection, improve sustainability of funding, enhance management and supervision, and step up disclosure and communication.

Public consultation on the draft IAIS-OECD Issues Paper on Insurer Corporate Governance

17-Mar-2009

The OECD and the IAIS invited public comments on a draft issues paper on the governance of insurers. The purpose of the issues paper is to provide background on insurer corporate governance, describe practices and identify possible regulatory and supervisory issues in relation to the governance of insurers.

OECD launches Private Pensions Outlook

12-Feb-2009

As the role of private pension systems grows in importance, the OECD is monitoring their development and reviewing their performance in an international context. This new publication provides essential data on investments, membership, benefits, and industry structure based on the latest official statistics available, as well as featuring a special report on the implications of the financial crisis for pensions and private pensions policy.

10th Roundtable on Capital Market Reform in Asia

from 02-Mar-2009 to 03-Mar-2009

The 10th Tokyo Roundtable focused on the impact of the global financial crisis on Asia and the Asian response, as well as the implications of current market turmoil on stock and bond markets and unregulated entities; products and markets; financial education and awareness; regulatory efficiency and corporate governance.