This paper presents case studies of macroprudential policy in five jurisdictions(Hong Kong SAR, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, and Sweden). The case studies describe the institutional framework, its evolution, the use of macroprudential tools, and the circumstances under which the tools have been used. The paper shows how macroprudential policy is conducted under a heterogeneous set of institutional frameworks. In all cases macroprudential tools have been used to address risks in the housing market. In addition, some of them have moved to enhance the resilience of their banks to more general cyclical and structural risks. This paper presents five case studies of experiences with macroprudential policy. It complements the Staff Guidance Note on Macroprudential Policy (IMF, 2014a) issue drecently by the IMF that provides a framework for staff’s advice on macroprudential policy in its bilateral surveillance. The studies describe the institutional framework and its evolution in the five cases, and provide examples of the types of macroprudential tools used and the circumstances under which they have been implemented.

The five economies studied are Hong Kong SAR, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore and Sweden. All of these economies have gained experience with implementing macroprudential policies, and most of these economies have large financial sectors relative to their GDP. The study focuses on the post global financial crisis period. The institutional frameworks described in this paper resemble to a large extent the stylized institutional models identified in Nier et al.(2011). One size, however, does not fit all. For example, Singapore fits into the model where the central bank is the overall financial supervisor and also has the macroprudential mandate, but with active role of the government (e.g., (MOF)). New Zealand fits into the model where the integration of supervisory agencies is partial but the macroprudential mandate lies with the central bank and the government does not play an active role in macroprudential policy. Sweden is an example where the central bank does not have supervisory responsibilities and the macroprudential mandate lies with the integrated supervisory agency. In Hong Kong SAR the central bank is empowered to conduct macroprudential policy, whereas in the Netherlands the mandate to implement macroprudential policy is shared between the central bank and the government.