Articles by Central Banking Newsdesk
UK government to 'explore potential of virtual currencies'
Major study will look into whether regulation is required for businesses to set up in the UK, says chancellor George Osborne, who adds virtual currencies can ‘transform lives’
Fed blasts big banks over ‘unrealistic' living wills
Eleven firms, including Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, must take ‘immediate action to improve their resolvability', US central bank says
Bank of Israel expects 0.4% inflation for 2014
Low rates prompted by flagging domestic demand, appreciation of the shekel and low inflation environment worldwide, bank says in monetary policy report
Bank of Zambia holds interest rate as inflation stabilises
First MPC meeting of new quarterly schedule sees no change in policy; bumper maize harvest and a stabilising exchange rate credited with lowering inflation
Bundesbank economists propose indicator for price competitiveness
Working paper published by the European Central Bank develops new indicator for international price competitiveness in an attempt to provide a tool for policy analysis
Japan's ageing population will have deflationary effects, IMF paper finds
Deflationary effect will hit other advanced economies too, but can be countered through monetary policy and structural reforms, IMF economists write
Shrinking BoJ balance sheet will take longer post-QQE than in 2006
Economist says unwinding the BoJ’s asset purchases will take longer when QQE finishes than it did at the end of QE in 2006, because this time it is buying bonds with longer maturities
ECB paper quantifies OMT benefits
OMT announcements depressed Italian and Spanish two-year government bond yields by roughly 200 basis points, but left their French and German equivalents ‘largely unaffected’
Rajan: ‘Let’s fight the anti-inflation fight once’
Raghuram Rajan says risks to inflation target have become ‘more balanced’ in recent months, but stresses the need to remain ‘vigilant’ as RBI holds key rate at 8%
BoE appoints UBS UK head to top banking regulator
Bank of England appoints two new members to the Prudential Regulation Authority, the country’s chief micro-prudential regulator
Chan says Hong Kong has nothing to fear from further mainland liberalisation
Competition from Shanghai 'not a zero sum game' says HKMA head; rather, further internationalisation of the renminbi will create a 'bigger pie'
Adjusted calculation of US employment-to-population ratio signals return to pre-crisis level
Atlanta Fed paper uses micro-data to account for individual characteristics and probability of labour force participation; finds ratio has regained pre-recession level of nearly 63%
Banque de France's Le Lorier says good communication can ‘substitute' for rate decisions
First deputy says comms can complement decisions in non-crisis times by revealing variables that inform monetary policy; argues monetary and macro-pru mandates can be reconciled
ECB economists find ‘considerable heterogeneity’ in impact of crisis
Researchers say that while borrowers ‘benefited’ from low interest rates, debt burdens increased for poor households as their incomes fell
Former Temasek chairman makes switch to GIC board
S Dhanabalan returns to the GIC board which he left in 2005 to become Temasek chairman; Temasek's head of Europe has also quit the fund
IMF charts path towards PBoC policy rate
Staff report encourages the People’s Bank of China to stabilise borrowing costs in the interbank market as an ‘interim step’ towards establishing a policy rate
Central Bank of Colombia raises rates for fourth consecutive month
Bank raises benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.25% as annual growth is expected to reach 5% this year on the back of jump in household spending
Bank of Russia-owned Sberbank hit with EU sanctions
EU list of sanctioned state-owned banks includes central bank-owned Sberbank, despite the US leaving it off its list this week
Polish paper proposes new model for risk of ‘double default' on collateralised loans
Commonly used Gaussian copula-based approach does not properly capture the residual risk to central bank balance sheets posed by correlated defaults
Mundra named RBI deputy governor
Reserve Bank of India announces the appointment of Subhash Sheoratan Mundra, formerly head of Bank of Baroda, as deputy governor
Better budgeting tools could encourage low earners to switch from cash to card
Researchers find that low earners prefer to use cash over the debit card because they find it more effective as a monitoring and budgeting tool
Nigeria SWF to manage $350m for national electricity buyer
Finance minister backs deal, saying Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority will deliver a better return than the central bank
BoE working group finds ‘striking' changes in investment behaviour by insurers and pension funds
Nature of investments has changed markedly over the past 15 years, says Andrew Haldane-led group, which also includes Oxford professor Ian Goldin and Jim O'Neill
SNB reports profit of almost $18bn for first half of the year
Swiss National Bank recovers from $10bn loss in 2013; profit on foreign currency positions amounts to Sfr 12.6bn, while gold holdings see Sfr 3.5bn valuation gain