IMFx: Financial Soundness Indicators

This course, presented by the Statistics Department, introduces participants to the underlying concepts, definitions, and methodology for the compilation of Financial Soundness Indicators (FSIs). FSIs were developed by the IMF in the late 1990s and currently, more than 140 countries compile and report FSIs to the IMF. These indicators are widely used by researchers, analysts, and policymakers around the world to monitor the soundness of the financial system as a whole from a macroprudential perspective, as well as by IMF staff in financial stability analysis and surveillance. This course covers the history of the FSIs and their application in surveillance and macroprudential analysis, the conceptual framework for the FSIs, the data collection process for FSI compilation and its underlying aggregation and consolidation methodologies as well as the application of core and additional FSIs in macroprudential analysis. An important reference throughout this course is the Financial Soundness Indicators Compilation Guide revised in 2019. The 2019 FSIs Guide is the ultimate authority on FSI concepts and methods and is the foundation of this course.