Publication:
Cooperative Financial Institutions : Issues in Governance, Regulation, and Supervision

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (2.13 MB)
2,280 downloads
English Text (197.25 KB)
358 downloads
Published
2006
ISSN
Date
2012-06-05
Editor(s)
Abstract
This paper addresses topics on which an agreement is necessary to arrive at consensus guidelines or principles of regulation and supervision of cooperative financial institutions (CFIs) in developing countries. Specifically we identify those aspects related to CFI industry structure, governance, legislation and regulation over which a well established base of knowledge exists; we point out the most important gaps in understanding and those over which a considerable degree of disagreement among stakeholders appears to exist and that require research to consolidate opinions. Three main topics covered are: (i) the fundamental structure of the sector in terms of its internal (micro) and inter-CFI (macro) organization, with focus on the agency conflicts inherent in the mutual structure, the extent to which they contribute to failure risk, and to whether and how these conflicts are controlled by existing governance mechanisms; (ii) the existing legal frameworks in an international context, their origins and the implications for the functioning of CFIs; and (iii) the regulatory frameworks under which CFIs operate and the different propositions by stakeholders about what should be an appropriate regulatory framework and an effective supervision mechanism.
Link to Data Set
Citation
Cuevas, Carlos E.; Fischer, Klaus P.. 2006. Cooperative Financial Institutions : Issues in Governance, Regulation, and Supervision. World Bank Working Paper No. 82. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7107 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
  • Publication
    Greening Digital in Korea
    (Washington, DC, 2022-02) World Bank
    Digital technologies are making a significant impact on societies, economies, and the physical world, presenting both opportunities and challenges for the green agenda. Applications of these technologies in sectors such as energy, urban, transport, and agriculture are creating new possibilities for climate change mitigation strategies. However, the rapid expansion of digital technologies increases energy usage too, and is therefore also increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In seeking to address these challenges, the World Bank’s Digital Development Global Practice (DD) will publish a flagship report on Digital Development Opportunities for Climate Change, which will assess opportunities for greening with information communication technology (ICT), as well as opportunities for greening the ICT sector itself. To inspire and inform this flagship report, DD studied Korea’s experience in greening its ICT sector, with support from the Korean Green Growth Trust Fund. The Republic of Korea was selected for the case study due to its experience in both the digital and green sectors, and its status as a globally recognized ICT powerhouse. The country was also an early adopter of a green policy agenda, and is integrating DNA (data, network, and AI) into these policies. The government announced a national policy vision of “Low Carbon, Green Growth” in 2008 and has taken concrete steps to build a solid foundation for the green transition, through legislation, standardization, information-based instruments, economic instruments, research and development (R&D), and green procurement. More recently, the country has been aligning its green ICT strategy with the broader national GHG reduction target. Korea's experience can offer meaningful lessons to other countries looking to reduce the ICT sector’s climate impact. It shows that public policies have an important impact on the ICT market. The policy tools that can spur decarbonization of the ICT sector include green government procurement, information-based instruments, economic instruments, and provision of guidelines on green business practices. Keys to success in applying such tools include strong and early political commitment; long-term planning and comprehensive policies; prioritization; research and development (R&D) and investment; and a governance structure that allows a whole-of-government approach. Additionally, Korea’s experience shows that renewable energy will play an increasingly important role in reducing GHG emissions from the energy-intensive ICT industry. Korea’s experience also underscores the fact that more evidence and analysis are needed to measure and determine the effectiveness of policy and regulatory pathways for greening the ICT sector.
  • Publication
    Environmental Implications of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)
    (Washington, DC : World Bank, 2022-07) Lee, Soohyang; Park, Jinhee
    Two-thirds of central banks in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region have started researching or testing the implementation of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). At the same time, the region accounts for one-third of world CO2 emissions and is vulnerable to climate risks. As the Group of 7 (G7), European Central Bank (ECB), and Bank of England (BoE) have stated in their public statements, it is increasingly important to consider environmental impact when designing CBDC. However, only a few brief studies have been done on this subject, which will be crucial for the region. This Note explores the environmental implications of CBDC by comparing technical mechanisms and energy consumption within its distributed structure. It also illustrates differences in ecological footprint between CBDC and other payment methods (cryptocurrency, cash, and card networks). As the legitimacy of CBDC is backed by the trust of central banks, CBDC does not need to prove its legitimacy through its technological structure. Therefore, CBDC does not require the energy-intensive consensus or mining mechanisms used by a cryptocurrency, so its energy consumption is lower (comparable to that of a credit card system). CBDC can be designed to use various systems, such as Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), or a mixture of both. Careful deliberation to meet the objectives and implications will be important as CBDC can be a catalyst for financial innovation.
  • Publication
    Assessing Incentives to Increase Digital Payment Acceptance and Usage
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-01-18) Allen, Jeff; Carbo Valverde, Santiago; Chakravorti, Sujit; Rodriguez-Fernandez, Francisco; Pinar Ardic, Oya
    An important step to achieve greater financial inclusion is to increase the acceptance and usage of digital payments. Although consumer adoption of digital payments has improved dramatically globally, the acceptance and usage of digital payments for micro, small, and medium-sized retailers (MSMRs) remain challenging. Using random forest estimation, The authors identify 14 key predictors out of 190 variables with the largest predictive power for MSMR adoption and usage of digital payments. Using conditional inference trees, they study the importance of sequencing and interactions of various factors such as public policy initiatives, technological advancements, and private sector incentives. The authors find that in countries with low point of sale (POS) terminal adoption, killer applications such as mobile phone payment apps increase the likelihood of P2B digital transactions. They also find the likelihood of digital P2B payments at MSMRs increases when MSMRs pay their employees and suppliers digitally. The level of ownership of basic financial accounts by consumers and the size of the shadow economy are also important predictors of greater adoption and usage of digital payments. Using causal forest estimation, they find a positive and economically significant marginal effect for merchant and consumer fiscal incentives on POS terminal adoption on average. When countries implement financial inclusion initiatives, POS terminal adoption increases significantly and MSMRs’ share of person-to-business (P2B) digital payments also increases. Merchant and consumer fiscal incentives also increase MSMRs’ share of P2B electronic payments.
  • Publication
    The Behavioral Professional
    (Washington, DC : World Bank, 2022) Lourenço, Joana S.; Vakis, Renos; Zoratto, Laura
    Over the past decade, governments, multilateral organizations, and think tanks have been increasingly using behavioral science as an additional tool to understand and tackle complex policy challenges in several sectors. Yet despite this increase in the use of behavioral science for policy design, little attention has been given so far to those individuals responsible for designing and implementing public policies and programs: policy professionals. This note aims to achieve three objectives. first, it highlights recent examples building on work done by the eMBeD team and the World Bank at large on how behavioral bottlenecks can hinder key development goals, from ensuring inclusive and equitable education for all (SDG4) to ensuring good health and well-being (SDG3), among others. Second, the note presents a behavioral framework highlighting the individual, group and institutional contexts that affect policy professionals. Finally, it showcases the relevance of the behavioral approach to a broad range of areas - including public service design, corruption and accountability, service design, access and delivery, civil servants’ performance - by pinpointing common bottlenecks faced, and potential solutions to overcome them.
  • Publication
    World - Climate Services Operational Pathways
    (Washington, DC, 2021-12-22) World Bank
    This study was commissioned by climate investment funds (CIF’s) E and L initiative to distill lessons from CIF’s pilot program on climate resilience (PPCR) support identifying, designing, and implementing hydrometeorological and climate services investments. It seeks to generate learning and strategic insight into the different operational pathways that can be taken by national hydrological and meteorological agencies to develop, deliver, and strengthen hydrometeorological and climate services. The outputs from the study comprise of one synthesis report and three country studies for Jamaica, Mozambique, and Nepal. These three countries have been selected for the study due to their different institutional frameworks, hydrometeorological systems, and socio-economic context. They provide diverse in-depth insights in hydrometeorological and climate service development, delivery, and use. In this respect, the PPCR-supported Building Resilience to Climate-Related Hazards (BRCH) Project was selected as a case study project for Nepal to elucidate lessons learned on the process for modernizing hydrometeorological systems and developing climate services to users. It offers insight into challenges and opportunities for climate services development, delivery, and use in the South Asian developing countries. Qualitative methods, including structured interviews and literature review, were used to identify promising pathways to transform weather, water, and climate services in the three case study countries. In Nepal, the analysis of the data collected revealed five themes regarding critical pathways to continue to transform weather, water, and climate services in the country. These are: improving data resources, improving service design and delivery, improving hydrometeorological services through feedback and evaluation, fostering human resources capacity, and strengthening institutional arrangements. The report summarizes key findings and recommendations.
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Corporate Governance in Institutions Offering Islamic Financial Services : Issues and Options
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-11) Grais, Wafik; Pellegrini, Matteo
    This paper reviews institutions offering Islamic financial services (IIFS) corporate governance challenges and suggests options to address them. It first points out the importance of corporate governance for IIFS, where it would require a distinct treatment from conventional corporate governance and highlights three cases of distress of IIFS. It then dwells on prevailing corporate governance arrangements addressing IIFS' needs to ensure the consistency of their operations with Islamic finance principles and the protection of the financial interests of a stakeholders' category, namely depositors holding unrestricted investment accounts. It raises the issues of independence, confidentiality, competence, consistency, and disclosure that may bear on pronouncements of consistency with Islamic finance principles. It also discusses the agency problem of depositors holding unrestricted investment accounts. The paper argues for a governance framework that combines internal and external arrangements and relies significantly on transparency and disclosure of market relevant information.
  • Publication
    The Effectiveness of Boards of Directors of State Owned Enterprises in Developing Countries
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-03) Vagliasindi, Maria
    This paper aims to shed some new light on the conditions needed to ensure the effectiveness of Boards of Directors of state owned enterprises with a focus on infrastructure sectors. In the case of developing countries, empirical studies have found evidence of positive links between the composition of the Board of Directors and financial performance. Yet the lack of solid theoretical foundations, and in some cases poor data availability, makes the conclusions of most studies weak. Several policy recommendations emerge from the review of the economic literature and evidence from case studies. First, the introduction of a sufficient number of independent directors emerges as an important corporate governance milestone. Empowering them to exercise effective monitoring of management, however, may prove to be a formidable challenge for of state owned enterprises. More attention to board procedures, particularly related to the Board selection and evaluation process, is essential, to produce the necessary insulation of Boards from government interference. Ensuring sufficient continuity of services to directors is particularly crucial to improve corporate governance. In addition, other factors that may reduce directors' ability to monitor corporate activities, such as the age profile and the number of Boards on which they sit, need to be handled more carefully.
  • Publication
    Strengthening the Governance and Performance of State-Owned Financial Institutions
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-08) Scott, David H.
    Corporate governance arrangements define the responsibilities, authorities and accountabilities of owners, boards of directors, and executive managers of a company. Good corporate governance is as important for state financial institutions as for private sector companies. Many of the problems that commonly afflict state financial institutions can be associated with, if not attributed directly to, weaknesses in corporate governance. This note draws on guidelines recently published by the OECD and the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision to compile a comprehensive corporate governance evaluation framework relevant to state-owned commercial and development finance institutions. It highlights aspects of this framework that are considered to be of particular importance to state financial institutions by citing innovative practices in a number of countries. Finally, it presents a detailed case study of the governance arrangements in place at the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
  • Publication
    Financial Sector Assessment Program : Brazil - Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-04) International Monetary Fund; World Bank
    Brazil has a well-defined banking supervision process supported by a legal framework that grants the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) broad enforcement powers for corrective action and weak bank resolution. This assessment of the Basel Core Principles (BCP) for effective supervision was conducted from February 27 through March 20, 2012. As agreed with the authorities, the supervisory framework was assessed against the BCP methodology issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) in October 2006. In self-assessment the authorities addressed both essential and additional criteria and the assessors based their conclusions on compliance with both criteria. The last BCP assessment was conducted in 2002, however, the grading is not comparable to this assessment as the principles and methodology were revised in 2006. Although the BCB operates on an independent mode, there are amendments to Law 4595-1964 (banking law) that will aid in protecting the continuation of the operational independence.
  • Publication
    Firms Behaving Nicely : Incentives and Commitment
    (International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2013-09-26) Klein, Michael
    Ever since the rise of large firms in the 18th century, debate has been raging about how to combine economic efficiency and productivity with socially desirable behavior of firms. This paper reviews the debate starting with the classic corporate governance argument about shareholder rights. It discusses the potential incentives to exploit other stakeholders unduly and examines some mechanisms, beyond contracts and regulation, to cope with this exploitation. In this light it considers reputational mechanisms, using the example of corporate social responsibility, and changes to the constitution of firms, with emphasis on the nonprofit form of enterprise. Based on evidence so far, the for-profit firm with mechanisms assuring sound shareholder rights remains preferable to the alternatives. However, scope for experimentation with mechanisms such as different classes of shareholders with differing voting rights may be socially useful, which suggests that global corporate governance principles thus should not be prescriptive in detail.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Digital Progress and Trends Report 2023
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-03-05) World Bank
    Digitalization is the transformational opportunity of our time. The digital sector has become a powerhouse of innovation, economic growth, and job creation. Value added in the IT services sector grew at 8 percent annually during 2000–22, nearly twice as fast as the global economy. Employment growth in IT services reached 7 percent annually, six times higher than total employment growth. The diffusion and adoption of digital technologies are just as critical as their invention. Digital uptake has accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic, with 1.5 billion new internet users added from 2018 to 2022. The share of firms investing in digital solutions around the world has more than doubled from 2020 to 2022. Low-income countries, vulnerable populations, and small firms, however, have been falling behind, while transformative digital innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI) have been accelerating in higher-income countries. Although more than 90 percent of the population in high-income countries was online in 2022, only one in four people in low-income countries used the internet, and the speed of their connection was typically only a small fraction of that in wealthier countries. As businesses in technologically advanced countries integrate generative AI into their products and services, less than half of the businesses in many low- and middle-income countries have an internet connection. The growing digital divide is exacerbating the poverty and productivity gaps between richer and poorer economies. The Digital Progress and Trends Report series will track global digitalization progress and highlight policy trends, debates, and implications for low- and middle-income countries. The series adds to the global efforts to study the progress and trends of digitalization in two main ways: · By compiling, curating, and analyzing data from diverse sources to present a comprehensive picture of digitalization in low- and middle-income countries, including in-depth analyses on understudied topics. · By developing insights on policy opportunities, challenges, and debates and reflecting the perspectives of various stakeholders and the World Bank’s operational experiences. This report, the first in the series, aims to inform evidence-based policy making and motivate action among internal and external audiences and stakeholders. The report will bring global attention to high-performing countries that have valuable experience to share as well as to areas where efforts will need to be redoubled.
  • Publication
    Empowerment in Practice : From Analysis to Implementation
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2006) Alsop, Ruth; Bertelsen, Mette; Holland, Jeremy
    This book represents an effort to present an easily accessible framework to readers, especially those for whom empowerment remains a puzzling development concern, conceptually and in application. The book is divided into two parts. Part 1 explains how the empowerment framework can be used for understanding, measuring, monitoring, and operationalizing empowerment policy and practice. Part 2 presents summaries of each of the five country studies, using them to discuss how the empowerment framework can be applied in very different country and sector contexts and what lessons can be learned from these test cases. While this book can offer only a limited empirical basis for the positive association between empowerment and development outcomes, it does add to the body of work supporting the existence of such a relationship. Perhaps more importantly, it also provides a framework for future research to test the association and to prioritize practical interventions seeking to empower individuals and groups.
  • Publication
    Global Economic Prospects, January 2025
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-16) World Bank
    Global growth is expected to hold steady at 2.7 percent in 2025-26. However, the global economy appears to be settling at a low growth rate that will be insufficient to foster sustained economic development—with the possibility of further headwinds from heightened policy uncertainty and adverse trade policy shifts, geopolitical tensions, persistent inflation, and climate-related natural disasters. Against this backdrop, emerging market and developing economies are set to enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century with per capita incomes on a trajectory that implies substantially slower catch-up toward advanced-economy living standards than they previously experienced. Without course corrections, most low-income countries are unlikely to graduate to middle-income status by the middle of the century. Policy action at both global and national levels is needed to foster a more favorable external environment, enhance macroeconomic stability, reduce structural constraints, address the effects of climate change, and thus accelerate long-term growth and development.
  • Publication
    Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises : A Toolkit
    (Washington, DC, 2014-10-04) World Bank Group
    This Toolkit provides an overall framework with practical tools and information to help policymakers design and implement corporate governance reforms for state-owned enterprises. It covers the key elements of corporate governance, including legal and regulatory framework, state ownership arrangements, performance management systems, financial and fiscal discipline, boards of directors, transparency and disclosure, and protection of shareholders in mixed ownership companies. Experience shows that no one approach is universally applicable and the choice of measures depends on country and enterprise circumstances. The Toolkit thus provides a range of frameworks, concepts, case examples, checklists, and model documents that together aim to help government officials make the appropriate choices for their circumstances. The Toolkit concludes with guidance on managing the reform process, in particular how to prioritize and sequence reforms, build capacity, and engage with stakeholders.
  • Publication
    Environmental, Social, and Governance Investing
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-03-01) Bouye, Eric; Klingebiel, Daniela; Ruiz, Marco
    This primer responds to central banks’ growing demand for knowledge on social, governance, and environmental considerations (ESG) in the investment process. This area has gained traction in the last two decades. More recently, central banks’ interest in ESG has increased, but much of the information available is aimed at investors with different investment objectives and broadly diversified portfolios. The authors fill that information gap by reviewing the definitions of ESG and the main ESG investment approaches, including their applicability to asset classes. The authors then examine how foreign reserve managers can apply ESG investing in their reserve management operations. The authors find limited scope for implementing ESG strategies in reserve management, given that most central banks still invest primarily in sovereign bonds of major economies. Yet, the authors also identify opportunities and critical considerations for central banks interested in implementing ESG investing in their reserve management operations.