Financial Stability
Central bank statistics departments facing multiple strains, says ECB’s Schubert
Meeting new monetary, micro-prudential and macro-prudential data requirements is a major burden for central bank statistics departments, says ECB statistics head Aurel Schubert
Stein and Wheatley to head up new FSB benchmarks steering group
Financial Stability Board sets up steering group to improve benchmarks; private sector invited to contribute to the review process
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
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
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
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
PBoC leaves banking sector sweating over liquidity squeeze
Tight credit conditions persist as the People’s Bank of China remains silent about liquidity injections into increasingly strained banking sector
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
Bangladesh governor targets stronger debt market
Atiur Rahman concerned by public and private sector reliance on bank funding, but says government should wait until after elections to issue first sovereign bond denominated in US dollars
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
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
UK banks told to find £13.4 billion in extra capital
Bank of England’s PRA says Lloyds and RBS need to raise extra £10.2 billion; Osborne says government will ‘do what it can’ to return both banks to the private sector
IMF paper weighs effect of shifting bank funding in eastern Europe
Researchers from the International Monetary Fund find banks rebalancing their funding sources away from foreign loans; warns global regulation may make this process too rapid
Chinese banks may face shadow finance credit crisis, say rating agencies
Strong links between the regulated and unregulated credit sectors in China due to the use of wealth management products and lending to shadow banks pose a systemic threat to Chinese banks
Reckless bankers should face jail, says UK parliamentary report
UK Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards delivers raft of recommendations on how to cultivate better responsibility among bankers, banks and their regulators
Bank of England’s FPC needs expanding, says UK parliamentary review
Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards delivers verdict on UK’s new regulatory architecture; recommends appointing additional external member to FPC to shift power away from bank insiders
Survey finds Lithuanians lack opportunities to use payment cards
Survey respondents would like to pay by card at places that currently do not accept them - but paying through mobile phones is still beyond the pale
RBNZ’s prudential supervision head backs simpler regulation
Toby Fiennes expresses ‘sympathy’ for arguments in favour of simpler banking regulation, but cautions that simplicity can bring problems of its own; gives hints as to future of regulation
Robert Pringle’s Viewpoint: Rebalancing the fraught relationship between governments and central banks
The growing politicisation of central banking involves central bankers needing to make difficult judgement calls on the areas that lie outside of their competence
UK Payments Council prepares 'roadmap' for reform
'Payments Roadmap' seeks to boost competition and innovation in UK payments, even as a government consultation leaves the future of the Payments Council in doubt
Central banks laying the seeds for ‘crisis in fiat money’, says UK MP Baker
Chair of UK parliamentary group for economics says a sharp correction in developed world sovereign bond prices could spark a collapse in confidence and challenge the sustainability of fiat money
EBA prepares for impact of single supervisory mechanism
Annual report for 2012 shows the European Banking Authority grew rapidly to meet the demands of a widening stability mandate, which will include working with the eurozone’s SSM
ECB’s Asmussen details 'comprehensive assessment' of European banks
The European Banking Authority will conduct stress tests in second quarter of 2014, after initial ECB asset quality review and balance sheet assessment
BoE’s Tucker sketches ‘richer’ capital accord
Paul Tucker gives a vision of what an ideal capital accord might look like in future including greater use of CoCos and longer-term debt; stresses this would still not remove the need for supervision