Key Standards for Sound Financial Systems

The key standards come under the broad policy areas of Macroeconomic Policy and Data Transparency, Financial Regulation and Supervision and Institutional and Market Infrastructure. These standards have been designated by the FSB as key for sound financial systems and deserving of priority implementation depending on country circumstances. These standards are broadly accepted as representing minimum requirements for good practice that countries are encouraged to meet or exceed.

Criteria for determining the Key Standards

The FSB applied the following criteria for determining the list of key standards for sound financial systems:

• relevant and critical for a stable, robust, and well-functioning financial system (including in light of the lessons from the recent financial crisis), in order to impart a sense of prioritisation in implementation;

• universal in their applicability, by covering areas that are important in nearly all jurisdictions;

• flexible in implementation, by being general enough to take into account different country circumstances;

• broadly endorsed – namely, that such standards should have been issued by an internationally recognised body in the relevant area in extensive consultation with relevant stakeholders. To satisfy this criterion, the standard should preferably undergo a public consultation process. This criterion would also be satisfied when the standard-setting body has wide representation, or when the standard has been endorsed by International Financial Institutions (IFIs), such as the IMF and the World Bank; and

• assessable by national authorities or by third parties such as IFIs.

Key Standards by policy area

The list of key standards will be periodically reviewed and updated by the FSB in light of policy developments at the international level.