Standards and Codes


List of Standards, Codes and Principles
Useful for Bank and Fund Operational Work and for which Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes Are Produced

November 2002

Transparency standards: the standards in these areas were developed and are assessed by the Fund. They cover issues of data and policy transparency.

Data Transparency: The Fund's Special Data Dissemination Standard/General Data Dissemination System (SDDS/GDDS).

Fiscal Transparency: the Fund's Code of Good Practices on Fiscal Transparency.

Monetary and Financial Policy Transparency: the Fund's Code of Good Practices on Transparency in Monetary and Financial Policies (usually assessed by the Fund and the Bank under the Joint Fund-Bank Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP)).

Financial sector standards: the standards in these areas have been developed by other institutions and are generally assessed under the FSAP.

Banking Supervision: Basel Committee's Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision (BCP).

Securities: International Organization of Securities Commissions' (IOSCO) Objectives and Principles for Securities Regulation.

Insurance: International Association of Insurance Supervisors' (IAIS) Insurance Supervisory Principles.

Payments and Securitites Settlement Systems: Committee on Payments and Settlements Systems (CPSS) Core Principles for Systemically Important Payments Systems and CPSS-IOSCO Joint Task Force's Recommendations for Securities Setttlement Systems.

Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism: Financial Action Task Force's (FATF's) 40+8 Recommendations.

Standards concerned with market integrity: standards in these areas have been developed by relevant institutions and the Bank is in the lead in undertaking assessments. Some of these areas may be assessed under the FSAP.

Corporate Governance: OECD's Principles of Corporate Governance.

Accounting: International Accounting Standards Board's International Accounting Standards (IAS).

Auditing: International Federation of Accountants' International Standards on Auditing.

Insolvency and creditor rights1/:

1/ In April 2001, the World Bank Executive Directors reviewed the Bank's Principles and Guidelines for Effective Insolvency and Creditor Rights Systems and asked staff to prepare experimental ROSCs based on the Principles with a review of this experience scheduled in the Spring of 2003. In addition, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) will soon be completing a legislative guide that will include recommendations on the design of a domestic insolvency law. Staffs of the World Bank and Fund are working to ensure convergence toward a single standard.