Articles by Central Banking Newsdesk
Bank of Japan cuts inflation forecast
BoJ retains asset purchases at current levels and says underlying inflation is rising steadily; expects to hit target in second half of 2016
Bank of Spain remodels in light of SSM
Executive commission approves a new structure for bank resolution and regulation, as well as changes to the central bank’s cash management functions
Bank of Portugal initiated administrative proceedings against 25 banks in 2014
Bank of Portugal also concluded 27 administrative offence proceedings during last year, applying fines worth around €0.5 million
IMF paper analyses Islamic banking impact on economic growth
Islamic banking is ‘more flexible against shocks and more inclusive with regards to growth’, finds an IMF working paper
Norway’s oil fund boosted by market rally and weak krone
Fund returns 5.3% in the first quarter, a new record in krone terms, led by strong equity returns and weak currency; fund continues to use clout to encourage ethical decisions by firms
Bank of Mexico delivers $2 billion surplus to the government
The 12.4% depreciation of the peso against the dollar in 2014 had a positive impact on the Bank of Mexico reserves, allowing the central bank to deliver a $2 billion surplus to the government
Centralising supervision may trigger more integration, ECB paper finds
Working paper suggests centralising supervision could create the need for even more centralisation; calls for ‘perimeter of banks’ supervised by central authority to be flexible
Stevens cautious on bail-in efficacy
Reserve Bank of Australia governor says bail-in is subject to a ‘host’ of complexities that could mean it goes less smoothly in practice than regulators would like to believe
Azerbaijan to legislate central bank recapitalisation
Parliament prepares draft law to recapitalise Central Bank of Azerbaijan after foreign exchange losses leave balance sheet in the red
People: Malaysia appoints assistant governor; BoJ board member approved
Bank Negara Malaysia names Mohd Adhari Belal Din as assistant governor, while Marzunisham Omar takes office at the IMF; Japanese government approves Yutaka Harada as BoJ board member
Singapore inflation to ease before rising at end of 2015
CPI inflation could be negative on a year-on-year basis for consecutive months, which MAS says reflects ‘falling car prices, housing rentals, and costs of oil-related items’
Belgian central bank embraces responsive design with new website
National Bank of Belgium launches new website with cleaner design and upgrades its statistical database, while wider central banking community look to improve online presence
Bank of Finland shuffles board responsibilities
Under new set-up, Erkki Liikanen is responsible for monetary policy preparation, domestic economic policy, financial market issues and external communications
Emerging markets close in on Basel III completion
Latest Basel Committee progress report shows most jurisdictions have moved significantly closer to full Basel III implementation, with emerging markets making particularly rapid progress
Nouy sees banking union driving deeper integration
ECB report finds financial integration back to levels achieved before sovereign debt crisis; Danièle Nouy expects banking union to help create ‘deeper integration of a higher quality’
Nigeria central bank orders banks to disclose bad debtors
Banks in Nigeria will have to publish lists of ‘delinquent debtors’ starting May 1, in an attempt to battle the ‘rising trend of non-performing loans the industry’
El Salvador central bank sells 80% of its gold reserves
Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador sold 80% of its gold holdings last month and invested the proceeds in dollars; Venezuela carries out $1 billion gold swap deal
Constâncio tells national supervisors to ‘recognise and reciprocate’ regulatory measures
ECB vice-president suggests ‘automatic and mandatory reciprocity’ would benefit a range of macro-prudential measures in the eurozone; only one case of voluntary action to date
Kuwait breaks new ground with regulatory data release
Central Bank of Kuwait releases quarterly ‘financial soundness’ indicators including capital adequacy and regulatory liquidity; few central banks release similar data at such high frequencies
IMF paper lays out new capital controls dataset
IMF working paper presents new dataset of capital control restrictions on both inflows and outflows of 10 categories of assets for 100 countries between 1995 and 2013
BIS’s Hannoun backs central banks' right to surprise markets
Deputy general manager praises Swiss National Bank for issuing markets with a wake-up call, warning of the heavy cost associated with unconventional monetary policy
Fed updating supervisory guidance on community banks
A deputy director tells subcommittee in House of Representatives the Fed has ‘several efforts underway’ to provide regulatory relief for community banks
Iranian governor floats plan for new IMF training centre
Valiollah Seif puts plan for new Iran-based IMF regional training centre to Christine Lagarde; says inflation outlook has improved since president Hassan Rouhani took office
RBA paper finds only weak support for sticky information Phillips curve
Paper provides ‘first estimates’ of a sticky information Phillips curve for Australia, finding the curve fits poorly with the inflation-targeting era but better in earlier years