Publications & Documents

As climate change increases exposure to natural disasters, countries need new solutions to mitigate risks of natural hazards. For many in Asia and the Pacific, mobilising existing resources is not enough: they need to consider a grand design of disaster risk financing strategies. Catastrophe bonds (CAT bonds) can be an effective, market-based financing tool for the region. While the global CAT bond market has grown steadily since the 1990s, it remains weakly developed in Asia and the Pacific. Its successful development there requires robust purpose-built legal frameworks; developed general bond markets, especially in local currency; appropriate capacity building; and data-driven pricing models. This report explores each of these conditions along with policy suggestions for fostering them, and discusses the development of multi-country CAT bonds in Asia and the Pacific.

Using original data collected from governments around the globe, the Consumer Finance Risk Monitor analyses the constantly evolving issues and risks facing consumers of financial products and services. It examines consumer harms and complaints in five product markets (banking and payments, credit, insurance, investments and pensions) and describes regulatory and supervisory responses to address market conduct risks. It also presents data on financial scams and frauds, highlights tools used to monitor risks, and identifies consumer protection policy responses.

Global Insurance Market Trends provides comparable, cross-country data on insurance markets. It is a comprehensive source of statistical information for government authorities (regulators, finance ministries, and central banks), the insurance sector, the research community, and consumers. The report is based on the inputs from national insurance authorities and supports monitoring and analysis of the insurance sector. This report shows data for 2022.

Global Insurance Market Trends provides comparable, cross-country data on insurance markets. It is a comprehensive source of statistical information for government authorities (regulators, finance ministries, and central banks), the insurance sector, the research community, and consumers. The report is based on the inputs from national insurance authorities and supports monitoring and analysis of the insurance sector. This report shows data for 2022.

This paper explores different frameworks of subnational investment promotion and facilitation and focuses on the link between these frameworks and the degree of and the degree of countries’ decentralisation, their role in regional FDI attractiveness and local development, and their relations with the levels of FDI regional disparities. It also examines characteristics of subnational investment promotion strategies and the quality of institutional relationships within regions, across regions and with the central government.

The rapid acceleration in the pace of AI innovation in recent years and the advent of content generating capabilities (Generative AI or GenAI) have increased interest in AI innovation in finance, in part due to the user-friendliness and intuitive interface of GenAI tools. The use of AI in financial markets involving full end-to-end automation without any human intervention remains largely at development phase, but its wider deployment could amplify risks already present in financial markets and give rise to new challenges. This paper presents recent evolutions in AI in finance and potential risks and discusses whether policy makers may need to reinforce policies and strengthen protection against these risks.

As countries seek to draw lessons the COVID-19 crisis and increase their future resilience, evaluations are important tools to understand what worked or not, why and for whom. This report builds on the OECD work on 'government evaluations of COVID-19 responses'. It evaluates Belgium’s responses to the pandemic in terms of risk preparedness, crisis management, as well as public health, education, economic and fiscal, and social and labour market policies. Preserving the country’s resilience in the future will require promoting trust in public institutions and whole-of-government approaches to crisis management, reducing inequalities, and preserving the fiscal balance. The findings and recommendations of this report will provide guidance to public authorities in these efforts.