The 'Great Contraction' in global economic activity triggered by the financial crisis and the extraordinary fiscal and monetary measures that public authorities had to undertake in order to put the economy back on track by putting public finances under heavy strains and leading to extremely low short-term interest rates have shown the enormous costs resulting from an unstable financial system. Such costs have triggered wide-ranging reviews of financialstability policies. An important outcome of such a review is the strengthening of policies and instruments focused on macro-financial stability the so-called 'macro-prudential policies.'