Recent Economic and Monetary Trends

The International Financial Crisis

For more than a year, the international financial crisis has raged in waves. The article looks back on the factors that triggered the crisis and what made it escalate in the autumn of 2008. This is followed by an outline of the measures and rescue packages implemented by governments and central banks worldwide in order to stem the crisis. The article concludes with a description of how the international financial crisis has affected the financial sector in Denmark.

New Euro Area Member State from 2009: Slovakia

Investment Associations in Denmark

Sonnie Karlsson and Casper Ristorp-Thomsen, Market Operations

Investment associations play a more and more important role in relation to Danish savers. Investing through an investment association is easy, and it enables economies of scale and risk diversification. However, individual investors should be aware of some special characteristics of the Danish market that affect these advantages. It is a relatively concentrated market with little external competi tion. By far the greater share of the funds are actively managed. On average, the return achieved by actively managed funds is lower than the market return, mainly due to higher costs.

The Danish Mortgage-Credit Market – a Liquidity Dilemma

Claus Johansen, Financial Markets, and Elena Kabatchenko Nielsen, Statistics

The Danish market for mortgage-credit bonds has undergone considerable development over the last few decades. Among other things, this has affected the distribution of liquidity on mortgage-credit bond series. This article describes the consequences of this development for issuers, investors and borrowers. On the basis of the findings in this article, statistics are introduced showing the ownership concentration for bond series. In future, these statistics will be pub lished as part of Danmarks Nationalbank's securities statistics by ISIN codes.

The IMF Undergoing Change

Helene Kronholm Bohn-Jespersen, Economics

The escalating global financial crisis has brought the International Monetary Fund (IMF) back into focus in international economic-policy cooperation. The G20 discus sions on reforming the international financial system showed broad support for the IMF as a more central institution with special focus on strengthening the surveil lance of the economies and financial stability. The IMF has granted very large loans to crisis-stricken countries, including Iceland. In addition, in recent years the IMF has reformed its own finances as well as the countries' representation in the IMF (quota and voice reform).

The Development in the Labour Supply

Erik Haller Pedersen and Johanne Dinesen Riishøj, Economics

The labour force has increased during the most recent upswing, even though demographic trends would warrant a reduction. Together, the increase in the labour force and the higher number of hours worked per employee have boosted the labour supply by more than 160,000 since 2004. Particularly the extent to which Denmark has succeeded in attracting foreign labour distin guishes this upswing from previous ones. An increase in the labour supply is necessary primarily to ensure fiscal sustainability.

Speech by Governor Nils Bernstein at the Annual Meeting of the Danish Bankers Association on 8 December 2008

Press Releases

Tables and Graphs Section

Vol. XLVII, No. 4