2026 Financial Sector Assessment Program Review—Strengthening Agility, Focus, and Impact

The 2026 Review of the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) responds to a rapidly evolving financial landscape, marked by rising NBFI interconnectedness, digitalization, AI, cyber risk, climate change, geopolitical uncertainty, and related macro-financial risks. FSAPs, as a key bilateral surveillance tool, remain highly valued by policy makers, but need to be agile to emerging risks and remain available to the wider IMF membership. The Review proposes a more agile, modular, and risk-based approach: tailoring assessment depth across the three pillars; strengthening safeguards through transparency, risk diagnostics, and greater integration with ongoing Article IV surveillance; reforming the methodology for identifying members that undergo mandatory assessments and making room for more voluntary assessments; and pursuing efficiency gains. Future FSAPs will, therefore, proactively adapt to the evolving financial landscape, focus in-depth reviews on the most material risks, and deliver where—and when—they can have the greatest impact.