FSI Award - Competition Rules 2008

August 2007

  1. The Financial Stability Institute (FSI) will give the 2008 FSI Award to the author of the best paper submitted under these rules. The author must be currently on staff at a financial sector supervisory agency. The paper should be an original contribution on a topic related to a financial regulatory or supervisory issue of current interest.

  2. The specific topic chosen for a paper is at the option of each author but should focus on an issue related to financial sector activities, financial sector supervision or the broader theme of financial stability. The FSI would like to stress that it is important that, irrespective of the specific topic, the paper should be relevant to individuals actively engaged in the supervision of financial institutions or the development of policies related to such supervision. Papers should not focus exclusively on the experiences of a single country unless the lessons learned can be applied in a wider context.

  3. The winning paper will be awarded in a ceremony to be held in Brussels, Belgium, in September 2008, at the time of the International Conference of Banking Supervisors (ICBS). The ICBS is attended by heads of supervision and other senior supervisory officials from approximately 175 countries. The author will be entitled to attend the ICBS as the guest of the FSI. The award includes round-trip business class travel to Brussels from the winner’s city of residence, as well as hotel accommodation, transportation and meals during the ICBS.

  4. The author of the winning paper will also be granted an opportunity to have a limited stay at the Financial Stability Institute/Bank for International Settlements in order to pursue research on a supervisory topic. This will provide the author a chance to meet with members of the Financial Stability Institute, the Secretariat of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the Bank for International Settlements involved in issues of financial stability.

  5. The winning paper will be published by the FSI and distributed throughout the supervisory community. The jury may also award an Honourable Mention to papers worthy of publication. By entering the competition, authors grant to the FSI the right to first publication. The FSI retains the right to edit the winning submission in consultation with the author(s).

  6. Only members of the staff of financial sector supervisory agencies are eligible to compete. Employees of the Bank for International Settlements, including the Financial Stability Institute and the Secretariat of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, and their family members or recognised partners, are not eligible to compete.

  7. A review team comprised of FSI staff will select between ten and fifteen papers to be passed on to a panel of expert judges. The panel of judges will, in turn, select the winning paper.

  8. Authors submitting papers that depend critically on unpublished empirical analysis should also submit separately sufficient information about this analysis to allow the judges to evaluate its technical soundness.

  9. Papers must meet the following technical requirements:

    • They must be received by the FSI no later than 1 April 2008.

    • They must be written in clear English.

    • They must be submitted in Word format.

    • They must have not less than 6,000 or more than 10,000 words excluding charts, footnotes and bibliography. (Please note: every year several submissions are disqualified for failing to meet this particular requirement.)

    • They must not reveal the identity of the author in the title, text, footnotes or bibliography.

    • They must not have been previously published in the same form or be actively under consideration for publication or award by another entity.

    • They must include a synopsis of not more than 250 words.

    • The cover page of each paper submitted must include the title of the paper, the name of the author and the date of submission. The cover page will be removed before the paper is screened. Therefore, the title and date should be repeated at the top of all pages of the text, without the name and affiliation of the author.

    • A letter proving that the author belongs to the staff of a financial sector supervisory agency must be submitted along with the paper. Joint authors are permitted; at least one lead author must belong to the staff of a financial sector supervisory agency.

  10. A comprehensive set of materials, including cover letters and papers, must be received by the FSI no later than 1 April 2008 and should be submitted to the FSI by mail on diskette or by e-mail. Mail should be sent to: Financial Stability Institute, Bank for International Settlements, Centralbahnplatz 2, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland. Emails should be sent to fsi@bis.org. The FSI will provide an acknowledgement that documents have been received.

  11. The decision of the jury shall be final and may not be contested before any court of law.