An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team is reviewing New Zealand’s insurance and banking sectors as part of routine surveillance to gauge financial system stability.

The last time the IMF conducted such as check was in 2003, which provided the basis for the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) report in May the following year.

“New Zealand has a stable, well-capitalised banking sector that held up well in the face of the global financial crisis and I expect the IMF to comment favourably on both it and the improvements to the regulatory landscape since its last report,” Finance Minister Bill English said.

“We will be interested to hear what the IMF has to say about New Zealand’s regulatory and supervisory framework and will carefully consider any recommendations it makes.”

This year’s FSAP review is co-ordinated by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, the FMA, Treasury and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

“This is a great opportunity for us to be benchmarked against international principles, to show how much progress we have made since the last mission, and to receive some recommendations and feedback from the IMF,” the FMA says.

“Seeing how our system stacks up against international best practice means investors both here and abroad can have confidence in the regulatory framework we have been building over the past decade.”

New Zealand’s participation in the FSAP is voluntary, because the country is not on the IMF’s list of 29 jurisdictions with “systemically important” financial sectors, which are required to undergo the mandatory review every five years.

Australia, which is on the IMF’s list, is due for an assessment next year.