Publication: Guidelines for the Successful Regional Integration of Financial Infrastructures
Loading...
Published
2014-01
ISSN
Date
2015-07-07
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Over the past decade or so, the prospects of long term economic, institutional and social gains from regional and global financial and trade liberalization have become more appealing to public and private stakeholders. Indeed, since the late 1980’s both developing and advanced economies have seen greater levels of cross-border banking and the cross-border trading, issuance and investment in securities and financial derivatives. At the same time, recent events like the global financial crisis that emerged in 2008 have prompted market participants, their supervisors and other national authorities, international organizations and standard setting bodies to support more robust and ultimately effective mechanisms to enable cross-border financial market connectivity and liquidity, for the benefit of overall financial stability and also of the final users of cross-border financial services.The guidelines are designed to correspond to themain public and private sector objectives for financial market and infrastructure integration, and to facilitate stakeholder realization of the main benefits that are typically associated with FI integration. The guidelines also address commonly experienced barriers and challenges to efficient, effective and safe regional financial infrastructure integration, in order to improve accessibility and reachability for customers and to help minimize the various costs and risks often associated with integration efforts like these.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2014. Guidelines for the Successful Regional Integration of Financial Infrastructures. Financial infrastructure series;. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22110 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Scaling-up Regional Financial Integration in the East African Community(Washington, DC, 2012-01)This report follows up on a 2007 World Bank study, Financial Sector Integration in Two Regions of Sub-Saharan Africa: How Creating Scale in Financial Markets Can Support Growth and Development (FSITR henceforth) which identified the opportunities associated with regionalization of financial markets in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and also the many challenges associated with realizing the potential of such arrangements. This effort furthers and updates the analysis of the EAC in FSITR by focusing on two aspects of trade in financial services within the EAC:Documenting a clearer picture of financial integration in the EAC, as it is actually taking shape on the ground; and elaborating on the challenges specific to the integration of Burundi and Rwanda who joined the EAC subsequent to the preparation of FSITR. The recommendations are intended to provide inputs which will assist identification of projects to be financed under the proposed EAC Regional Financial Markets Integration Project.Publication Trade Integration as a Way Forward for the Arab World : A Regional Agenda(2011-02-01)The current political turmoil for more open and participative societies in many Arab countries coupled with the emergence of new growth poles around the world could create the conditions for a big push toward greater regional and global trade integration of the Arab world. Further integrating Arab countries among themselves and opening up the region to the rest of the world are two complementary avenues to improve market access, promote behind-the-border regulatory reforms, facilitate cooperation on regional public goods, foster the emergence of an "Arab factory" through regional supply chains and productions networks, and eventually create the conditions for more and better paid jobs for the growing Arab workforce. A more ambitious trade agenda in the context of the Pan-Arab Free Trade Area would be a good place to start. Although difficult and challenging, and requiring a good dosage of flexibility and variable geometry, such an agenda would consist of (1) completing the free movement of goods within the Pan-Arab Free Trade Area, notably through the elimination of unnecessary non-tariff barriers; (2) implementing a regional initiative to liberalize services trade, including identifying a number of pilot service sectors for early regional liberalization; and (3) strengthening the rules and discipline applicable to regional trade and other policies of common interest.Publication Economic Integration in the Maghreb(Washington, DC, 2010)This report reviews the status of Maghreb countries' economic integration with the world, with the Arab world, and within the Maghreb itself. It focuses on trade in goods and services, labor and capital flows, financial integration and cross-border infrastructure integration. It discusses the potential benefits of and key constraints to greater integration. The focus on trade liberalization with the European Union (EU) provides an opportunity for individual Maghreb countries to lock in policies that would eventually help them harmonize policies within their own region. The same argument can be made regarding accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Maghreb countries would reap significant additional benefits if, in parallel to reforms undertaken to improve trade liberalization with Europe, they improved conditions for streamlined trade among themselves. There is significant potential for trade in services in the financial sector, transportation and logistics, and communications and information, among other sectors. According to some studies, comprehensive services reforms that involve increased competition and regulatory streamlining would yield benefits that are at least twice the magnitude of those achieved through tariff removal alone.Publication Regionalizing Infrastructure for Deepening Market Integration : The Case of East Africa(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-06)The East African Community has long recognized that regional economic integration can yield significant welfare gains to its member states. To that end, the community has been making steady progress towards the removal of tariffs and quantitative restrictions to trade. Moreover, in recent years, there has been an increasing recognition that: (a) even greater welfare gains could be realized through deeper forms of regional integration which entail harmonization of legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks; and (b) reforms that reduce cross-border transaction costs and improve the performance of "backbone" infrastructure services are arguably even more important for the creation of an open, unified regional economic space than trade policy reforms narrowly defined. Disparities of regulatory treatment across borders can introduce distortions that hinder both cross-border trade and the aggregate flows of investment on a regional basis. Regulatory harmonization and infrastructure regionalization could make a significant contribution to the region's economic development by promoting a more efficient utilization of its human and physical resources, enhancing connectivity, reducing the costs of trade, and facilitating the integration of the continent with the global economy.Publication Liberalization of Trade in Financial Services : Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean(Washington, DC, 2008-01)This policy note is based on a project on financial services and trade agreements in the Latin America and Caribbean Region. It emphasizes that the liberalization of trade in financial services is helpful to, but is not a panacea for, domestic financial system modernization. It adds that the means of liberalizing trade in financial services may also determine the extent of the benefits that can be attained and that any trade commitments in financial services will need to be aligned with China's financial system condition and policy objectives. The author points out however, that China can also draw useful policy lessons from the Latin America and Caribbean (LCR) experience when negotiating financial services in Preferential Trade Arrangement (PTAs) by firstly, the inclusion of financial services which depends greatly on the existence of offensive interests and of asymmetric bargaining powers between the negotiating counterparts; secondly, the case studies which strongly indicate the importance of initial conditions and historical experience in shaping a country's financial services trade strategy; thirdly, the scheduling approach of the (typically self-contained) financial services chapter which both contributes to, and is determined by, the willingness to liberalize; and finally the authorities should be cognizant of important nuances between the two main negotiating templates.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication China Economic Update, December 2017(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-12)Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in China has remained strong in 2017, exceeding market expectations. Supported by risinghousehold incomes, the growth contribution of final consumption increased further this year. At the same time, the growth contribution of fixed investment has declined notably. This was partly driven by government efforts to limit local government off-budget financing of public investment but also by weaker private investment. The recovery in global trade has been an important factor supporting economic activity in China in 2017. Net exports contributed positively to growth for three consecutive quarters, compared to a negative contribution in 2015-2016. Owing to favorable global financial conditions, as well as stricter implementation of capital controls and greater domestic market confidence, capital outflows from China declined to 47 billion US dollars in the first three quarters of 2017, from 640 billion US dollars in 2016. The Renminbi appreciated by 5.0 percent against the US dollar over January-November 2017.Publication Good Practices for Financial Consumer Protection, 2017 Edition(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-12-12)Over the past decade, financial consumer protection has become an increasingly mainstream priority for policymakers. A strong consumer protection regime is key to ensuring that expanded access to financial services benefits consumers, enabling them to make well-informed decisions on how best to use financial services, building trust in the formal financial sector, and contributing to healthy and competitive financial markets. The World Bank’s Good Practices for Financial Consumer Protection (the Good Practices) was developed in 2012 as a contribution to the emerging global set of tools on financial consumer protection. Since then, international guidance and country practices regarding financial consumer protection have substantially evolved. The 2017 Good Practices is designed to serve as a comprehensive reference and assessment tool for policymakers that consolidates the latest research, international guidance, and country examples. A thorough update of the previous edition, this guide expands upon priority areas such as supervisory techniques, effective disclosure, and digital finance, and also emphasizes the practical considerations and tradeoffs that policymakers face when implementing new policies and practices.Publication China Economic Update, December 2021(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-12)Following a strong rebound in the first half of 2021, economic activity cooled rapidly in the latter half of the year. The slowdown was partly policy induced, reflecting significant fiscal tightening and regulatory curbs on the financial and real estate sectors, while recurring COVID-19 outbreaks complicated the normalization of contact service activities. This led to a sharp slowdown in investment and sluggish recovery of private consumption, which was only partially offset by stronger-than-expected exports on the back of robust external demand. In addition, power shortages and production cuts aimed at reducing CO2 emissions, which surged in the first half of 2021, also weighed on economic activity.Publication Chile - Financial Sector Assessment Program, December 2021(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-11)This Technical Note discusses household indebtedness issues in Chile from a financial consumer protection perspective. The note discusses over-indebtedness concerns and other creditrelated issues practices that appear to be adversely affecting consumers – particularly more vulnerable, lower income consumers – in Chile and gaps in the current financial consumer protection regulatory and supervisory framework needing to be bridged to assist in addressing these issues. The note considers both issues that had already manifested prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and developments during the pandemic. Importantly, the note highlights credit-related issues which warrant focus from a consumer protection perspective even if they may not necessarily be a concern from a stability perspective.