Financial Market Trends: OECD Periodical

Financial Market Trends provides a six-monthly update of trends and prospects in the international and major domestic financial markets of the OECD area and beyond. Timely analysis of and background information on structural issues and developments in financial markets, focusing on areas where changes are most substantial, make this publication relevant for financial market participants and policy makers alike, and should stimulate discussion among experts.

Articles focusing on particular issues related to developments in the financial sector are regularly featured. Periodically, financial sector statistics covering areas such as bank profitability, insurance and institutional investors are profiled.

Comments and questions should be addressed to the Financial Affairs Division of the OECD Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs (email: fmt@oecd.org).

A subscription to this periodical can be purchased from the OECD Online Bookshop.
Subscribers to SourceOECD can download all articles at www.sourceOECD.org/periodical/fmt.

Financial Market Trends No. 94 Volume 2008/1

• Overview of content

Part I. Current Issues in Financial Markets: The Recent Financial Turmoil

• Financial Markets Highlights – May 2008: The recent financial market turmoil, contagion risks and policy responses 
• The Subprime Crisis: Size, Deleveraging and Some Policy Options 
• Financial Turbulence: Some Lessons Regarding Deposit Insurance 
• Challenges Related to Financial Guarantee Insurance

Part II. Sovereign Wealth and Pension Funds

• Sovereign Wealth and Pension Fund Issues 
• Governance and Investment of Public Pension Reserve Funds in Selected OECD Countries
• Funding Regulations and Risk Sharing
• Evaluating the Impact of Risk-Based Funding Requirements on Pension Funds

Part III. Debt Management

• Use of Derivatives in Debt Management and Domestic Debt Market Development: Key Conclusions

Financial Market Trends No. 93 Volume 2007/2

• Overview of content
• Part I : Current Issues in Financial Markets
  - Financial Markets Highlights
  - Structured Products: Implications for Financial Markets 
• Part II: Institutional Investors and Emerging Markets
  - Selected Questions Regarding Hedge Funds
  - Institutional Investors and Corporate Governance  in Latin America: Challenges, Promising Practices and Recommendations
  - Collective Pension Funds:  International Evidence and Implications for China’s Enterprise Annuities Reform
  - Indian Financial System Reform: Selected Issues
• Part III: Bond Markets
  - Public Debt Management and the Evolving Market for (Ultra-)Long Government Bonds

Financial Market Trends No. 92 Volume 2007/1

• Overview of content
• Financial Markets Highlights
• An Overview of Hedge Funds and Structured Products: Issues in Leverage and Risk 
• The Private Equity Boom: Causes and Policy Issues 
• The Role of Private Pools of Capital in Corporate Governance
• Longevity Risk and Private Pensions
• Asset Allocation Challenges for Pension Funds: Implications for Bond Markets
• Governments and the Market for Longevity-indexed Bonds
• Retail Instruments in Public Funding Strategies
• Housing Markets and Household Debt: Short-term and Long-term Risks
• Government Debt Management and Bond Markets in Africa

Financial Market Trends No. 91, November 2006

• Overview of content
• Highlights of Recent Trends in Financial Markets 
• Financial System Reform in China: Discussions with Chinese Authorities
• The SME Financing Gap: Theory and Evidence
• Factors behind Low Long-Term Interest Rates
• The Impact of Pension Funds on Financial Markets
• OECD Guidelines on Pension Fund Asset Management
• Overview of the Financial Wealth Accumulated under Funded Pension Arrangements

Financial Market Trends No. 90, April 2006

• Overview of content
• Highlights of Recent Trends in Financial Markets 
• The Financial Policy Landscape: A Conceptual Overview
• Risk Capital in OECD Countries: Past Experience, Current Situation and Policies for Promoting Entrepreneurial Finance 
• Pension Fund Demand for High-Quality Long-Term Bonds
• The OECD Global Pension Statistics Project: Overview of the Financial Wealth Accumulated Under Funded Pension Arrangements
• Highlights of OECD Financial Outreach Activities in 2005

Financial Market Trends No. 89, November 2005

• Overview of content
• Highlights of Recent Trends in Financial Markets
• Governance of banks in China
• Improving financial literacy: Principles, Programmes, Good Practices
• The aggregate and structural impact of ageing on financial markets: Some quantitative assessments
• Pension funds for government workers in OECD countries
• Recommendation on guidelines for insurers governance
• Pension statistics indicators 

Ageing and pension system reform: implications for financial markets and economic policies, Supplement to Financial Market Trends 

Financial Market Trends No. 88, March 2005

• Overview of content
• Highlights of Recent Trends in Financial Markets
• Overview of Advances in Risk Management of Government Debt 
• OECD White Paper on Governance of Collective Investment Schemes 
• Highlights of OECD Financial Outreach Activities in 2004
• Global Pension Statistics Project: Data Update 

Financial Market Trends No. 87, October 2004

• Overview of content
• Highlights of Recent Trends in Financial Markets
• Convergence in the Financial Sector: Where are we coming from and where are we going?
• International Risk Transfer and Financing Solutions for Catastrophe Exposures
• Private Health Insurance in OECD Countries:  The Benefits and Costs for Individuals and Health Systems
• Guidelines for the Protection of Rights of Members and Beneficiaries in Occupational Pension Plans
• OECD’s Financial Education Project 
• Global Pension Statistics Project: Measuring the Size of Private Pensions with an International Perspective 

Financial Market Trends No. 86, March 2004

• Overview of content
• Highlights of Recent Trends in Financial Markets
• The Performance of Financial Groups in the Recent Difficult Environment
• Ageing and Financial Markets
• A Note on Benefit Security
• Insurance and Financial Market Issues Related to the Management of Large-Scale Disasters
• OECD Financial Outreach Activities in 2003

Financial Market Trends No. 85, November 2003

• Highlights of Recent Trends in Financial Markets
• The Integration of the Corporate Bond and Commercial Loan Markets
• Prospects for Stock Exchanges
• Major Policy Challenges in Developing Exchanges in Emerging Economies
• Insurance and Expanding Systemic Risks
• Insurance Statistics

Financial Market Trends No. 84, April 2003

• Highlights of Recent Trends in Financial Markets
• The Health of Financial Institutions during the recent Bear Market
• Pension Reform and Financial Markets: The Impact of the Post-2000 Downturn
• European Banking and Stock Market Integration
• Convergence in Euro Area Government Debt Markets

Financial Market Trends No. 83, November 2002

• Highlights of Recent Trends in Financial Markets
• "Prudent Person Rule" Standard for the Investment of Pension Fund Assets
• Private Annuity Markets
• Guidelines for Pension Fund Governance
• Increases in Investment in the 1990s: the Role of Output, Cost of Capital and Finance?
• Decision of the Council on the Exchange of Information on Reinsurers

Financial Market Trends No. 82, June 2002

• Highlights of Recent Trends in Financial Markets
• Recent Privatisation Trends in OECD Countries
• Risk Capital in OECD Countries: Recent Developments and Structural Issues
• Experiences with the Resolution of Weak Financial Institutions in the OECD Area
• Risk Transfer Mechanisms: Converging Insurance, Credit and Capital Markets
• Insurance Statistics

Financial Market Trends No. 81, April 2002

• Highlights of Recent Trends in Financial Markets
• Electronic Finance: Economics and Institutional Factors
• Supervision of Financial Services in the OECD Area
• Pension Fund Governance

Financial Market Trends No. 80, September 2001

• Highlights of Recent Trends in Financial Markets
• Special Focus: Institutional Investors; Recent Trends and Statistics - Institutional Investors in Asia - Collective Investment Schemes in Japan and other Asian Countries
• The Evolution of Pension Systems in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: Opportunities, Constraints, Dilemmas and Emerging Practices
• Portfolio Regulation of Life Insurance Companies and Pension Funds - Statistics Update

Financial Market Trends No. 79, June 2001

• Highlights of Recent Trends in Financial Markets
• Recent Privatisation Trends
• Special Focus: The Contribution of the Financial Sector to Sustainable Development - Policies to Enhance Sustainable Development - Financial Markets and Sustainable Development - The Role of Insurance in Sustainable Development - Foreign Direct Investment and Sustainable Development
• Fifteen Principles for the Regulation of Private Occupational Pension Schemes
• The Institutional and Policy Environment for Investment in Russia
• Insurance Statistics