Macroprudential policy and financial stability, role and tools

Abstract

The aim of macroprudential policy is to ensure financial stability by avoiding the outbreak of banking crises, which have a dangerous effect on the economy. Is macroprudential policy effective in the face of banking crises and systemic risks? Macroprudential policy has received significant interest from policy-makers and researchers. A few developing countries were using macroprudential policy tools well before the 2008 financial crisis, but significant progress has been made thereafter in both emerging and industrialized economies to put in place specific institutional settings for macroprudential policy. The fundamental objective of macroprudential policy is to maintain the stability of the financial system by making it more resistant and preventing the risk build-up. The objective of this paper is to analyze the important role of macroprudential policy in ensuring overall financial stability. Since the financial crisis of 2008, macroprudential policy has been increasingly used across economies. These measures aim at smoothing financial cycles and thereby mitigating the impact on the real economy, thereby allowing monetary policy to focus on price stability and promote growth and full employment. Macroprudential policy instruments fall into two categories, depending on their purpose, namely, to prevent procyclicality or to enhance the resilience and soundness of the financial system against shocks. The first category of instruments is used to stop bubbles from forming and smooth cycles, i.e. to force the debt-equity of economic operators on an income basis to prevent unsustainable credit bubbles, or to require dynamic loss provisioning rules. The second category of macro-prudential policy is to improve the resilience to shocks, such as capital surcharges for systemic institutions or the requirement to hold liquid assets to cope with market panics, and to make the financial system less complex.