- International Monetary Fund
- Bank for International Settlements
- International Organization of Securities Commissions
- International Association of Insurance Supervisors
- Network for Greening the Financial System
- European Forum of Deposit Insurers
- Group of Banking Supervisors from Central and Eastern European Countries
- International Organisation of Pension Supervisors
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization that was established in July 1944 in Bretton Woods to foster international monetary cooperation and exchange rate stability, to promote economic growth and employment as well as to provide temporary financial assistance to members to help them address balance of payments problems.
Currently the IMF membership embraces 191 countries.
Latvia and the IMF
Latvia has been a member of the IMF since 19 May 1992. The legal basis for cooperation between Latvia and the IMF is governed by the Law on the Accession of the Republic of Latvia to the International Monetary Fund of 15 April 1992. The Governor of Latvijas Banka represents Latvia in the IMF's highest decision-making body, the Board of Governors, with the State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance acting as the Alternate Governor. Thus, Latvijas Banka is the leading institution that represents the interests of the Republic of Latvia at the IMF, and ensures regular cooperation.
Each member state of the IMF is assigned a quota, the size of which depends on the share of its national economy in the global economy. Latvia's quota in the IMF is 332.3 million SDR or 0.07% of the total IMF quota.
The Executive Board (the Board) is responsible for conducting the day-to-day business of the IMF. Latvia represents its interests and takes part in the IMF decision-making in the Nordic-Baltic Constituency (NBC). The NBC is comprised of the following countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. The NBC's share of total IMF votes is 3.28% . The NBC develops a common position about the IMF issues that are discussed by theInternational Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) and by the Board. Country representation in these bodies is determined by an agreed rotation schedule. From January 2023 till July 2026 the Executive Director of the NBC is Vitas Vasiliauskas, Lithuania, who represents the Baltic states. Consequently, Banks of the Baltic states are responsible responsible for coordinating the views on IMF issues among the central banks and the ministries of finance of the NBC.
The Executive Director heads the Nordic-Baltic Office (NBO) in Washington where all NBC countries are permanently represented according to the above-mentioned rotation schedule. The NBO staff, including Latvia's representative, ensures support to the activity of the Executive Director, analyzes information about the issues on the Board agenda, and prepares opinions in line with the common approach agreed in the NBC and reports about topical IMF issues.
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Latvia cooperates with the IMF on a regular basis in the framework of the IMF surveillance known as Article IV consultations. The IMF staff visits the country according to the IMF stated consultation cycles to assess the country's macroeconomic situation and financial sector developments and to discuss economic policy with the Latvian authorities. After the visit the IMF experts compile a report and present it to the Board for discussion and completion of the consultation.
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Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
The Bank for International Settlements or the bank of central banks has 63 members – the central banks of various countries – and is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland.
Its mission is to provide support to central banks in areas such as monetary and financial stability. For this purpose, the BIS promotes international cooperation and knowledge exchange, analyses policy areas of central banks, and focusses on secure and competitive financial services.
Promoting innovation, including technological developments and new forms of cooperation among central banks, is one of BIS’s operational directions. To support this, BIS Innovation Hubs (Innovation Hub Centres) have been established in multiple locations around the world.
International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)
IOSCO is an international body that brings together world's securities and capital markets regulators and supervisors from more than 130 jurisdictions.
IOSCO primarily aims to develop, facilitate the implementation of, and promote adherence to global regulatory and supervisory standards, ensuring consistent regulatory and supervisory practices worldwide, as well as to improve investor protection and mitigate the systemic risk of capital markets internationally. Furthermore, IOSCO coordinates and facilitates information exchange and cooperation among IOSCO member authorities.
IOSCO also provides high quality technical assistance, training, and research services to its members and other regulators.
International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS)
The IAIS is a voluntary membership organisation of insurance supervisors and regulators from more than 200 jurisdictions.
Its main purpose is to contribute to global financial stability, as well as to promote consistent supervision of the insurance industry to develop and maintain fair, safe, and stable insurance markets for the benefit of policyholders at high international level. It is a global standard-setting body for the insurance sector responsible for developing and assisting in the implementation of principles, standards and guidance such as supporting material for the supervision of the insurance sector.
It also provides a forum for Members to share their experiences and understanding of insurance supervision and insurance markets.
Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS)
The Network for Greening the Financial System brings together 138 members – central banks and supervisors.
Its members aim to exchange best practices, contribute to the management of climate and environment-related risks in the financial sector, and to mobilise capital to support environmentally sustainable ("green") and low-carbon investments, thereby facilitating the transition to a green and sustainable economy.
The network conducts itself or commissions researchers for analytical work on "green" finance.
To achieve its objectives and implement its tasks, the network structures its efforts around several workstreams (Supervision, Scenario Design and Analysis, Monetary Policy, Nature-Related Risks, Capacity Building, and Training).
European Forum of Deposit Insurers (EFDI)
The European Forum of Deposit Insurers is an international non-profit association established in 2002 under the Belgian law.
EFDI's objective and tasks
EFDI's main objective is to contribute to the stability of the financial system by enhancing and promoting the role of European and international cooperation of deposit insurance schemes and investor compensation schemes, facilitating discussion and exchange of experiences and expertise among its members. To this effect, EFDI offers a platform for:
- the development of best practices on topics of common interest and concern among the member states;
- the research and collection of data on deposit insurance and investor compensation;
- the research of cross-border circumstances including possibilities for better collaboration;
- the research and further development of the practical application of the EU Directive on Deposit Guarantee Schemes.
Group of Banking Supervisors from Central and Eastern Europe (BSCEE)
BSCEE is an organisation for cooperation among banking supervisors from the Central and Eastern Europe. Latvia joined the BSCEE Group in 2004.
BSCEE's objective and tasks:
- to facilitate and maintain close cooperation between the supervisors of the Member States of the BSCEE Group;
- to serve as a high level forum for technical discussions and conferences;
- to provide an opportunity to exchange supervisory methods, experience, and information among the Member States of the Group;
- to represent the Central and Eastern European region in cooperation with the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS).
International Organization for Pensions Supervisors (IOPS)
IOPS has members – private or funded pension supervisors – from 80 jurisdictions and territories worldwide and aims to improve the quality and effectiveness of the supervision of private pension systems, ensuring a secure source of retirement income in as many jurisdictions as possible. Furthermore, IOPS also sets international standards on pension supervision, whilst taking into account the variety of pension systems.
IOPS's objective and tasks:
- to serve as a standard-setting body on pension supervisory matters and regulatory issues related to pension supervision;
- to promote international co-operation on pension supervision, as well as international contacts between pension supervisors and other relevant parties;
- to provide a global forum for policy dialogue on pension supervision and exchange of information between members of IOPS;
- to participate in the work of relevant international institutions on the development and promotion of the implementation of international standards and good practices on pension regulation;
to support countries with less developed private pension arrangements through policy dialogue, technical support and research, in close co-operation with other international bodies and technical assistance programmes.