Financial Stability Council commences work

The first meeting of the Financial Stability Council was held in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs on Wednesday, 10 September 2014. The Financial Stability Council is the authorities' official forum for collaboration on financial stability. The Council serves as venue for consultation, exchange of information and policy formulation on financial stability and co-ordinates the preparedness of public authorities for financial crises.

The Financial Stability Council is comprised of the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, who acts as chairman, the Central Bank Governor and the Director General of the Financial Supervisory Authority.

The principal tasks of the Financial Stability Council are the following:

1. to formulate official financial stability policy;
2. to assess economic imbalances, financial system risk, undesirable incentives, and other conditions that are likely to jeopardise financial stability;
3. to define the measures, other than the application of the Central Bank of Iceland's monetary policy instruments, that are considered necessary at any time in order to affect the financial system with the aim of strengthening and preserving financial stability;
4. to confirm definitions of systemically important supervised entities, infrastructure, and markets whose activities could affect financial stability.

Apart from its regular meetings, the Council convenes to provide a formal governmental consultation body when a financial crisis is seen to be imminent or has struck, or when there is a risk of events which could result in major contagion effects.

The following matters were on the agenda of the Financial Stability Council at its meeting:

• Protocols of the Financial Stability Council
• Official policy on financial stability
• Other matters