The COVID-19 pandemic is an enormous health and economic challenge that raises significant risks for financial systems around the world, including in Australia. The substantial economic contraction in the first half of 2020 was the largest in most economies since the Second World War. After a period of heightened volatility and stress following the onset of the pandemic, financial systems have continued to operate effectively. Banks and financial markets withstood the initial liquidity phase of the crisis, given banksā large liquid asset holdings and central banksā substantial injections of liquidity. With … (full story)