What are the economic effects of implicit bank debt guarantees and who ultimately benefits? This report sheds light on these questions

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are fundamental for inclusive growth and jobs, but they need to broaden their sources of finance in order to reduce their vulnerability to volatile credit market developments, according to two new OECD reports.

This report responds to a request from the G20 that the IMF and OECD assess whether further work is needed on their respective approaches to measures which are both macro-prudential and capital flow measures, taking into account their individual mandates. The report was transmitted to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors at their meeting on 16-17 April 2015 in Washington D.C.

The 2015 OECD-GFLEC symposium is addressing financial literacy for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and harnessing financial education to spur entrepreneurship and innovation.

In this issue of "Pension Funds in Figures", preliminary data and early estimates for 2014 show that pension funds’ assets exceeded USD 25 trillion in OECD countries. The largest increases are found in Estonia, Korea, Luxembourg and Turkey, where pension funds’ assets rose by more than 20% compared to...

The OECD hosted a workshop on green investment banks on 20 May 2015. It built upon discussions of green banks at the OECD Green Investment Financing Fora (May 2015 and June 2014) and continued international dialogue on the experiences of green banks. The workshop welcomed 9 different green banks, public financial institutions, NGOs, the private sector and over 20 countries interested in the green bank model.

Singapore, 28 May 2015: This roundtable will focus on key themes related to G20 work, including how policy makers and investors can facilitate private sector infrastructure financing, the development of infrastructure as an asset class, and issues relating to the regulation of long-term investment.

The world economy desperately needs more productive investment: to create jobs, to increase productivity and to meet critical global goals like combating climate change. But instead of more productive investment, we are getting rising stock markets. Sadly too many policymakers and journalists don’t know the difference.

The greatest puzzle today is that since the global crisis financial markets see so little risk, with asset prices rising everywhere in response to zero interest rates and quantitative easing, while companies that invest in the real economy appear see so much more risk. What can be happening?

OECD Ministers have endorsed updated guidelines to help national governments and regional groups create the right conditions to attract domestic and foreign investment.

The OECD’s Annual Meeting at Ministerial Level reinforced member governments’ support across a broad range of key OECD work.

Responsible business conduct (RBC) is an essential part of an open international investment climate. The activities of multinational enterprises often span multiple countries and many cultural, legal, and regulatory environments.

The current low interest rate environment poses a significant risk for the long-term financial viability of pension funds and insurance companies, as they seek to generate sufficient returns to meet promises, according to a new OECD report.

This chapter from the 2015 OECD Business and Finance Outlook examines the potential impact of an environment of protracted low interest rates on pension systems and life insurance companies. It describes the mechanisms through which prolonged low interest rates can affect the solvency position of these institutions and uses available data to assess potential impacts.

Long-term savings and investments (LTSI) by individuals enhances their financial security while also supporting growth and financial development. Evidence shows that financial knowledge and skills are positively related to LTSI behaviour, and indicates a strong correlation between levels of financial literacy and retirement wealth accumulation.

The OECD presented today the final package of measures for a comprehensive, coherent and co-ordinated reform of the international tax rules to be discussed by G20 Finance Ministers at their meeting on 8 October, in Lima, Peru.

As part of continuing efforts to support market confidence and business integrity, the OECD has launched in Asia a new set of corporate governance principles that were endorsed at the G20 Finance Ministers meeting in September 2015.

This stocktaking report profiles the tax treatment of funded private pension plans across all OECD and EU countries. The information refers to 2015 or the latest year with available data and covers all types of funded private pension plans in each country.

29 October 2015, Paris - Resilient cities and SMEs are critical to reducing the economic disruption from climate-related disaster events. In the run up to COP21, these remarks by Adrian Blundell-Wignall at the AXA-UNEP-PSI Conference on Climate Resilience address the importance of building resilience to climate change risks at the level of cities and SMEs.

This taxonomy maps out the investment options available to private investors and the instruments and incentives available to attract private sector investment in infrastructure.

SMEs are important engines of innovation, growth, job creation and social cohesion. However, they can only reach their full potential if they obtain the finance necessary to start, sustain and grow their business. These voluntary principles provide broad guidelines on how to enhance access by SMEs to finance to help increase the contribution of SMEs to resilient and inclusive growth.

The OECD has produced assessments of country-specific investment strategies in G20 countries in order to improve the investment ecosystem, foster efficient infrastructure investment and support financing opportunities for SMEs. This booklet reproduces the highlights of these assessments which have been transmitted to G20 leaders for consideration at their Summit in November 2015..

This document outlines the objectives and key components of the framework, and presents the flexible, outcome-based, core competencies framework itself. The framework is designed to be applicable to youth aged 15 to 18, describing the basic level of financial literacy that is likely to be needed by this group to fully and safely participate in economic and financial life.

Financial literacy has become a key life skill for individuals as well as micro and small businesses. Today, 59 economies worldwide are implementing national strategies using guidance from the OECD/INFE High-level Principles on National Strategies for Financial Education. The Policy Handbook describes the experiences of these economies and addresses challenges that countries have faced in implementing the Principles.

Paris, 19-20 November 2015: Bringing together senior executives representing the world’s largest institutional investors, senior policy makers and regulators, debates focused on issues affecting long-term investment, including: asset allocation concepts; regulation; governance; energy and natural resources; and, brownfield and greenfield infrastructure.

This event explored the potential contribution of the (re)insurance sector to climate change mitigation and adaptation, including: the role of the insurance sector in a climate change agreement; managing the financial risks of extreme events in a changing climate; investing in the transition to a low-carbon economy; and the role of regulators in addressing climate change risks.

OECD's Adrian Blundell-Wignall explains why clean energy projects are not attracting investors despite the availability of fund for investment. This paper was presented at a high-level breakfast event on institutional investors and the low-carbon transition hosted by the OECD Secretary-General during COP21 on 9 December 2015.

This paper reviews currency-based measures (CBMs) directed at banks in 49 countries between 2005 and 2013. These measures apply a discrimination, such as less favourable treatment, on the basis of the currency of an operation, typically foreign currencies. The new data shows that CBMs have been increasingly used in the post-crisis period, including for macro-prudential purposes.

This OECD-UNEP COP21 session will explore whether the governance of institutional investments, including in particular any applicable fiduciary standards, adequately considers climate change-related risks and green finance opportunities, and whether guidelines may be needed in this area to support investment decision-making.

This brochure looks at how financial education can contribute to longer term policies aimed at facilitating the integration of refugees. The provision of financial education, as a complement to supply-side financial inclusion initiatives as well as other education and health support, can support refugees and migrants by facilitating social and labour market inclusion as well as improve their (financial) well-being.

Climate change is a major political and economic challenge. This paper sketches out its relevance for the financial sector. Necessary low-carbon investments imply a significant yet manageable financing gap. Beyond capital mobilisation that has attracted most attention until now, the main challenge is ensuring a transition-consistent capital reallocation.

This article on public equity financing for SMEs complements earlier OECD work on market-based finance for SMEs. The development of this market segment could promote investment in SMEs and, together with securitisation and other non-bank debt financing instruments, encourage an enhanced allocation of risk and risk taking, and thus support growth.

Amsterdam, 20-21 April 2016: This symposium addressed the challenges of financial resilience throughout life and the importance of financial education.

Singapore, 25 April 2016: This roundtable focused on key themes related to G20 work, in particular the views of the private sector on current work developed by the OECD for the G20 Presidency toward promoting more diversified and innovative infrastructure financing.

28 April 2016, Paris - OECD, IOPS and the World Bank are joining forces to expand the reach of the OECD’s Global Pension Statistics database and annual Pensions Markets in Focus report. This collaboration with the World Bank will help bring data from emerging and developing economies that are not currently included in the database.

This review of Colombia by the OECD Working Party on Private Pensions examines Colombia’s position with respect to core principles related to pension systems.

Jakarta, 1-2 June 2016: This seminar addressed the importance of financial literacy and financial education for empowering micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

What is blocking business investment and productivity growth? OECD Business and Finance Outlook 2016 will focus on fragmentation at all levels of the global economy: heterogeneous policies, rules, laws and industry practices that create perverse incentives and block business efficiency.

Public policy has an important role to play in promoting research and development (R&D) and the development, diffusion, and use of new knowledge and innovations. Fiscal incentives, including tax policies, should be directed at specific barriers, impediments or synergies to facilitate the desired level of investment in R&D and innovations.

This report provides estimates of the costs associated with bank resolution both in terms of the expected costs that might arise should a bank fail (i.e. as "ex-post" costs), as well as the cost associated with the likelihood that a solvent bank might fail (i.e. as "ex-ante" costs) over the next year.

This document outlines the objectives and key components of the framework, and presents the flexible, outcome-based, core competencies framework itself. The framework is designed to be applicable to adults aged 18 and over, describing the basic level of financial literacy that is likely to be needed by this group to fully and safely participate in economic and financial life.

The core competencies frameworks on financial literacy highlight a range of financial literacy outcomes that may be considered important for adults, youth, or owners and managers of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and of potential entrepreneurs.The core competencies frameworks on financial literacy for youth and adults were developed in response to a call from G20 Leaders in 2013.

This report contains the results of an international data collection survey that measured the financial literacy and financial inclusion of adults. A total of 51,650 adults aged 18 to 79 from 30 countries and economies participated in the survey.

Annamaria Lusardi is the Denit Trust Chair of Economics and Accountancy at the George Washington University School of Business. Following the release of new data focused on Americans’ financial capability, she draws attention to some of the findings in the study, focusing on three areas of great importance to the personal finances of Americans: student loans, indebtedness, and financial literacy.

This paper explores the relationship between policy settings and extreme positive and negative growth events, what we call GDP tail risks, using quantile regression methods.

Certain growth-promoting policies can have negative side-effects by increasing the vulnerability of economies to financial crises. Typical examples are greater openness to financial flows or more liberalised financial markets.

Funded Pension arrangements, in particular defined contribution ones, are playing a growing role in complementing retirement income from public sources in OECD countries and worldwide. However, their design needs to be improved, according to a new OECD report.

This study explores the effectiveness of the incentive mechanisms embedded within the UK’s Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) for banks’ to expand their supply of lending to medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

Malaysia has sustained over four decades of rapid, inclusive growth, reducing its dependence on agriculture and commodity exports to become a more diversified, modern and open economy.

In 2014, the Financial Stability Board (FSB), in collaboration with the IMF and OECD, prepared a report for G20 leaders that sought to assess the cross-border consistencies and global financial stability implications of structural banking reform measures. To further examine structural banking reform measures taken since 2008, the OECD circulated a survey. This report describes the outcome of this survey.