The four-day workshop put together by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the West African Institiute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) aims to improve financial stability and build a more robust financial architecture in the region.

It is being held at a crucial time when the soundness of financial institutions has been worsened by global disruptions – hence the need to assess financial system soundness in member countries.

Participants will during the course be taken through the fundamentals and applications of compiling, using FSIs in support of macroprudential analysis [health and stability of the financial system] by a team of experts from the Statistics Department of the International Monetary Fund.

Delivering his welcome remarks at the opening of the regional course at the Erata Hotel, Accra, Director General of WAIFEM, Dr. Baba Y. Musa was confident, this initiate will continue to shape the financial soundness landscape in West Africa.

“The regional FSI course has been carefully designed to meet expectations. The expert will provide you with details of the intricacies of FSIs, examining their development, methodology, and the practical applications that make them an indispensable tool for financial professionals.”

“The insights gained from this course will not only deepen your understanding of these indicators but also empower you to contribute meaningfully to the ongoing dialogue on global stability”, he charged participants.

Dr. Kwasi Osei-Yeboah, Acting Head of Financial Stability who spoke on behalf of the Governor of the Bank of Ghana underscored the overarching objective of financial soundness on developed and developing economies.

“It is critical that we note the relevance of FSIs in gauging the financial systems of our economies. It is important to understand the limitations of relying on FSIs alone and how best to combine different sources or financial and non-financial information to enhance financial sector surveillance.”

“A key consideration is for the banking system to prepare itself against future shocks by raising its financial soundness level during economic booms, instead of struggling during economic downturns. I have no doubt that this course will provide the right forum for exchange of ideas towards ensuring safer financial systems. ”

FSIs are aggregate measures of the current financial health and soundness of financial health and soundness of financial institutions in a country and of their corporate and household counterparts.

The core indicators are based on the CAMELS rating system which is widely used supervisory framework for the assessment of individual bank’s financial soundless.

The framework considers among others, institutions’ capital adequacy, asset quality, management, earnings, profitability, liquidity and sensitivity to market risk.