Articles by Central Banking Newsdesk
Cœuré says ECB will not tighten ‘in near future’
ECB executive board member Benoît Cœuré says the prospect of tighter monetary policy in the eurozone remains distant; calls recent bout of market volatility ‘excessive’
King defends Bernanke over communication of Fed policy
Bank of England's Mervyn King says Fed chairman Ben Bernanke could ‘hardly have been clearer’ over future of monetary policy; vents his frustration at slow pace of economic reforms
Bank of Italy paper finds women directors improve bank governance
Researchers find that women on bank boards tend to reduce the riskiness of investments, which they say is potentially both an argument for greater gender balance and a factor behind discrimination
Switzerland passes Basel III implementation test
Assessment finds country ‘compliant’ overall with Basel III capital framework, although a number of regulations had to be tweaked to make the grade
Bank of Finland paper attempts to isolate European fiscal multipliers
Research seeks to account for effects of policy co-ordination and business cycles to produce more accurate estimates of European fiscal multipliers
IMF research quantifies distributional damage from fiscal consolidation
Working paper suggests efforts to cut budget deficits in advanced economies have raised inequality, cut the wage income share of GDP and pushed up long-term unemployment
BIS's Caruana wins term extension as Cecchetti prepares to quit Basel
Jaime Caruana to stay at BIS to 2017, but Stephen Cecchetti will leave in November this year; RBA's Debelle and FDIC's Verley take up other Basel posts
ECB’s Asmussen urges greater efforts at global policy co-ordination
Executive board member says globalisation has led to greater interconnectedness and many more sources of risk, but institutions have not kept pace with the demanding environment
QE was ‘a step in the dark’, Rajan tells BIS
Former IMF chief economist says decision to engage in quantitative easing was based on little evidence and influenced by politics, while the full consequences remain unclear
Reserve Bank of Fiji turned to unconventional monetary policy in wake of last year’s ‘devastating’ floods
Central bank forced commercial banks to lend to agriculture and renewable energy sectors; provided funds to affordable housing projects
Malaysia’s Zeti calls for greater macro-prudential supervision of Islamic finance
Bank Negara Malaysia governor says ‘new wave of internationalisation’ of Islamic finance necessitates greater prudential supervision and cross-border cooperation
Central banks need to start tightening policy, says BIS
The Bank for International Settlements says easy monetary policy has reached the end of what it can usefully do, warning that continuing QE will exacerbate risks and delay necessary reforms
ECB paper proposes model for assessing European sovereign and bank spillovers
Working paper uses VAR model to quantify interdependencies between bank and sovereign CDS spreads
ESRB issues macro-pru advice, as IMF warns over possible conflicts
European Systemic Risk Board recommends five ‘intermediate objectives' for macro-prudential policies in the EU; IMF paper warns of potential conflicts with micro-prudential measures
Japanese paper finds income elasticity of money demand has fallen over time
Update to 1996 paper finds cross-sectional income elasticities of money demand have plunged since the 1980s, to below one in the late 2000s
Bank of Spain researchers find fiscal multiplier far greater in turbulent times
Researchers find recessions and banking stress amplify the effect of government spending on the economy – but also that the effect is severely tempered by weak public finances
Central banks showing interest in renminbi assets, RBA article says
Article highlights continuing gradual move to liberalise trade in renminbi; notes many central banks have made Chinese investments, but says renminbi not yet an official reserve asset
ESM direct recapitalisation gets go-ahead
Eurogroup reaches agreement over main features of direct bank recapitalisation under the European Stability Mechanism, but commentators warn the deal could still falter; CRD IV also adopted
UK's Royal Mint brings back golden guinea to mark 350th anniversary
New £2 coin designed in the style of the now disused guinea, featuring the crest of King George III; coin will enter circulation later this year
Fed's monetary policy deviates from best practice, says Bullard
Fed monetary policy has deviated from central bank best practice and should be used ‘to meet policy objectives, not calendar objectives', says St Louis Fed president
Bernanke plays down Jackson Hole importance
Kansas Fed's renowned symposium is a conference sponsored by just ‘one of the 12 reserve banks' says Bernanke, who declined to comment on his future following FOMC meeting
Hong Kong launches renminbi Hibor fixing
New offshore benchmark rates to be produced starting next week; HKMA to provide oversight and surveillance of contributing banks' internal systems to ensure 'integrity' of submissions
SNB reaffirms commitment to exchange rate limit
Thomas Jordan says Swiss economy continues to face 'major challenges'; Fritz Zurbrügg outlines efforts to control risks arising from the central bank's $475 billion foreign currency investments
Hungarian paper backs sticky price inflation indexes
Working paper analyses forecasting ability of different indicators of underlying inflation; finds sticky price indexes outperform more traditional core inflation measure