02405cas a2200241 a 4500 AALejournalIMF016002 230101c9999 xx r poo 0 0eng d 5.00 USD 9781513517773 1934-7685 BD-DhAAL BD-DhAAL International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department. France : Financial Sector Assessment Program-Technical Note-Risk Analysis of Banking and Insurance Sector. Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 2019. 1 online resource (90 pages) IMF Staff Country Reports <strong>Off-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required <strong>On-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required Electronic access restricted to authorized BRAC University faculty, staff and students This technical note presents risk analysis of banking and insurance sector in France. The assessment is based on stress tests, which simulate the health of banks, insurers under severe yet plausible (counterfactual) adverse scenarios. The stress tests reveal that banks and insurers would be resilient against simulated shocks, although some challenges remain. French banks have improved their capitalization and asset quality; however, profitability remains challenged. The report also highlights that profitability is pressured on both the income and expense sides. Banks' ability to generate higher interest income is constrained by persistently low interest rates, and market businesses including trading activities have contracted in recent years. Growth-at-risk (GaR) analysis shows that the biggest contributing factors to the risk of growth are cost of funding and stock market prices. Financial conditions continue to tighten gradually since mid-2017; though the overall conditions remain accommodative. Risks stemming from loans to households seem to be contained over the short- to medium-term horizon, given relatively strong households' balance sheets, no evidence of significant misalignment in house prices, social safety nets, and fixed interest rates. Mode of access: Internet IMF Staff Country Reports; Country Report ; No. 2019/322 Full text available on IMF http://elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/002/2019/322/002.2019.issue-322-en.xml IMF e-Library