It’s Hip to Be Square—Why Good Financial Sector Supervision Is Important

IMF Blog, May 27, 2010

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Canonical URL: It’s Hip to Be Square—Why Good Financial Sector Supervision Is Important

Author: José Viñals
Date: May 27, 2010
Context: IMFBlog post arguing that effective financial supervision was a key differentiator during the global financial crisis and that strong supervision merits support from politicians and other stakeholders.
Institutional note: The IMF is an organization of 191 countries.

Financial supervisors often receive little praise but played a critical role during the global financial crisis; countries with the same rules had very different crisis experiences, and one reason was “better supervision.”
“It’s hip to be square!”—the post asserts that rigorous, rule-based supervision is valuable and sometimes underappreciated.
The supervisor’s role spans an institution’s lifecycle: license, monitor, set rules, guide, penalize, and intervene when failures occur—acting as “midwife, parent, mentor, cop, judge, and undertaker—all rolled into one.”

Intrusive: “having an intimate knowledge of the supervised entity—in short, stick your nose in, and know what’s going on.”
Proactive: requires skepticism; supervisors must question industry direction and actions even in good times.
Comprehensive: “leaving no stone unturned,” with vigilance about activities at the edge of the regulatory perimeter.
Adaptive: keep abreast of “new products, new markets, new services, and new risks.”
Conclusive: identify problems and “follow up too.”

Two pillars: the ability to act, and the will to act.
Ability to act requires:
- proper legal authority
- adequate resources
- a clear and well-defined strategy
- a robust internal organization
- an effective working relationship with other agencies
Willingness to act depends on:
- a clear and unambiguous mandate
- operational independence free from political or industry interference
- accountability
- a skilled staff
- a healthy arms-length relationship with the industry
- an effective partnership with boards of directors
Supervisors must resist “collective euphoria” and be prepared to “say no”; they need political and institutional support.

Rules alone are insufficient; implementation quality matters—“rules are only as good as their implementation.”
Effective supervision requires both technical capacity and institutional incentives to act decisively.
Support from politicians and clear governance arrangements are essential to empower supervisors to perform intrusive, proactive, comprehensive, adaptive, and conclusive oversight.

Source: IMFBlog post by José Viñals, May 27, 2010.