The Bank of Greece published a statement welcoming the International Monetary Fund's Financial Sector Assessment Program and Article IV reports on Greece, which it said recognize substantial progress in the banking sector and the quality of its supervision. The IMF's assessment, the first for Greece since 2006, found short-term risks to financial stability limited and manageable, and described significant credit institutions as well capitalized, highly liquid and resilient under crisis stress scenarios. The assessment also found that the Bank of Greece has strong independence, that its supervision of less significant institutions is thorough and intrusive, and that it has taken a proactive approach to systemic risk and macroprudential policy. Recommendations to the central bank focus on stronger monitoring of large exposures in systemic risk assessments, better governance at the largest and highest-risk less significant institutions, stronger supervision and transparency obligations for credit servicers, greater readiness to use combined resolution tools for less significant institutions, and wider use of quantitative methods for the countercyclical capital buffer together with internal macroprudential stress scenarios. The Bank of Greece said it will take the necessary measures to implement the recommendations within the deadlines set.