Survey of Regulation, Supervisory Practices and Market Structure in Banking in the MEDA Region
This report presents findings of a survey of the banking structure and regulatory practices in the MEDA region, addressed to the partner States of the European Union in the Mediterranean region.
The survey was developed by the Working Group on Financial Services in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. The survey included questions related to banking regulation, supervisory institutions and prevalent market conditions. The countries were also asked to assess compliance with the Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision. Participating countries included Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Tunisia and Turkey.
Survey results indicated that all countries are aware of the importance of modernizing their financial sectors and have been implementing reforms for some time, with encouraging results. Findings include:
- Essential banking laws and regulations are now in place in most countries of the region and central banks are upgrading their oversight capacity;
- Management systems are becoming more sophisticated and often include enhanced risk-based supervision functions procedures;
- Bank corporate governance and regulatory compliance with capital adequacy ratios have significantly improved as a result of staff being better prepared to carry out their obligations.
