A Capital Accord for Emerging Economies? (original) (raw)

Focus on Capital new approaches to developing Latin American capital markets During the past two decades, despite suffering damaging financial crises, the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have introduced important reforms in their financial markets, encompassing changes in the legal and regulatory framework, ownership patterns, and market infrastructure.The regulatory frameworks have evolved from monopoly and public ownership settings lacking specific regulations, toward scenarios where private participation prevails, with supervision, regulation, and competition playing complementary roles. However although legal reforms, regulation, and supervision are pivotal features in reform processes, financial and capital markets in the region have fallen behind, and have not provided necessary financing to enhance competitiveness and spur economic growth. Without effective legislation and enforcement to promote reform and political vision accompanied by strong leadership, the situation could become worse, restraining market discipline and further reducing the capability of the economies of the region to operate effectively in an increasingly global economy. Moreover, several factors—the region's poor performance compared with other parts of the world; the diversity of experience across countries; the complexity of public policy dynamics; and the scarcity of human, financial, and institutional resources—complicate the ability of countries to implement adequate policies. The Inter-American Development Bank Group, which includes the Bank as well as the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) and the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC), has actively promoted financial sector reform and recently has concentrated efforts on domestic capital market reform.