The management of a Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) engagement — conducted by the IMF, and jointly with the World Bank in emerging market and developing economies — receives far less attention than its technical content, yet it materially affects how a central bank’s supervisory practice is evidenced and presented to assessors. After situating the FSAP within IMF surveillance and tracing its development since 1999, including its interaction with the annual Article IV consultation, this paper treats FSAP management as a distinct discipline with three components: governance, covering board ownership, executive sponsorship and approval authorities; operational arrangements, covering coordination, document control, evidence, data and the handling of draft reports; and coordination, within the central bank, with other domestic authorities and with the mission. Drawing on published assessments of Malta, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong SAR and the United Arab Emirates, and on the 2024 revision of the Basel Core Principles, the paper argues that the outputs which shape assessment outcomes — a maintained self-assessment, retrievable supervisory reasoning, a reconciled data spine and a complete record of prior recommendations — accumulate over years and cannot be produced within an assessment cycle. FSAP management should therefore be organised as a standing capability rather than a time-bound project.
(The Author has over three decades of Central Bank experience in policy, regulation and supervision. He attended a Financial Sector Assessment Programme in 1999 at the IMF. This was the launch year of FSAP and At that time the training course was called “ Financial Programming and Policy” . As part of the course, the author presented a model financial assessment at the IMF Training Institute. Thereafter, the author has been associated with various macroprudential and Financial Stability Assessment for multiple Central Banks – assisting Article IV Consultations, building financial stability assessments, aiding compliance with Core Principles of effective Banking Supervision and attending meetings with IMF-World Bank teams related to Article IV and FSAP.)
Tools
Understanding The FSAP Process and Preparations : Link
A Policy Framework for FSAP Management in Central Banks : Link
FSAP Managenet Tool :
Presentation
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Reading List
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. (2024). Core principles for effective banking supervision. Bank for International Settlements. https://bis.org/bcbs/publ/d573.htm
Independent Evaluation Office of the International Monetary Fund. (2006). Independent Evaluation Office announces release of report on the evaluation of the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) (IEO Press Release No. 06/01). https://ieo.imf.org/-/media/ieo/files/evaluations/completed/01-05-2006-report-on-the-evaluation-of-the-financial-sector/pr0601.pdf
International Monetary Fund. (2021). Financial Sector Assessment Program: Frequently asked questions. Retrieved September 27, 2026, from https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fssa/financial-sector-assessment-program-faq
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International Monetary Fund. (2010). IMF expanding surveillance to require mandatory financial stability assessments of countries with systemically important financial sectors (Press Release No. 10/357). https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2015/09/14/01/49/pr10357
International Monetary Fund. (2014). IMF Executive Board concludes review of the Financial Sector Assessment Program (Press Release No. 14/447). https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2015/09/14/01/49/pr14447
International Monetary Fund. (2019a). IMF staff completes 2019 Article IV mission to the United Arab Emirates (Press Release No. 19/398). https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2019/11/06/pr19398-united-arab-emirates-imf-staff-completes-2019-article-iv-mission
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International Monetary Fund. (2021a). IMF Executive Board concludes periodic review of the Financial Sector Assessment Program (Press Release No. 21/143). https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2021/05/27/pr21143-imf-executive-board-concludes-periodic-review-of-the-financial-sector-assessment-program
International Monetary Fund. (2021b). People’s Republic of China—Hong Kong Special Administrative Region: Financial Sector Assessment Program—Technical note on banking sector supervision and regulation (IMF Country Report No. 21/118). https://www.imf.org/-/media/Files/Publications/CR/2021/English/1HKGEA2021006.ashx
International Monetary Fund. (2024a). 2024 revised Basel core principles for effective banking supervision (IMF Policy Paper No. 2024/037). https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/Policy-Papers/Issues/2024/08/02/2024-Revised-Basel-Core-Principles-for-Effective-Banking-Supervision-553136
International Monetary Fund. (2024b). Saudi Arabia: Financial Sector Assessment Program—Financial system stability assessment (IMF Country Report No. 24/281). https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/cr/2024/english/1sauea2024002-print-pdf.pdf
International Monetary Fund. (2025). IMF Executive Board concludes 2025 Article IV consultation with Saudi Arabia (Press Release No. 25/275). https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2025/08/03/pr25275-saudi-arabia-imf-executive-board-concludes-2025-article-iv-consultation
International Monetary Fund & World Bank. (n.d.). Financial sector assessment: A handbook. Retrieved September 27, 2026, from https://www.imf.org/en/publications/manuals-guides/issues/2017/01/01/financial-sector-assessment-a-handbook-18600
International Monetary Fund & World Bank. (2000). Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP)—A review: Lessons from the pilot and issues going forward. https://www.imf.org/external/np/fsap/2001/review.htm