Financial Stability
Giff 2012: Malaysia’s Zeti calls for a ‘bridging’ of economies to promote Islamic finance
Bank Negara Malaysia governor says Islamic finance has emerged from the financial crisis in a position of strength, but more co-ordination is needed to ensure the industry continues to flourish
Bulgarian governor against accession to banking union
Ivan Iskrov expresses opposition to the idea of Bulgaria joining the proposed EU banking union; discusses protecting domestic economic interests
BoE director says bail-ins getting closer
Andrew Gracie says the central bank is close to a functioning bail-in regime; a framework has been developed under the European Recovery and Resolution Directive
Giff 2012: Experts divided on Islamic finance as financial stability panacea
Speakers and delegates attending the Global Islamic Finance Forum in Kuala Lumpur split on role Islamic finance can play in alleviating global financial instability
Basel Committee unveils revised core principles
Updated core principles for effective banking supervision released; Basel Committee says 'more than 100' national banking supervisors endorsed the latest document
RBI official highlights stumbling blocks to ‘less-cash society’
G Padmanabhan says the development of prepaid transactions in India is ‘not very heartening’ despite non-banks being admitted into the market
Asian central banks have ‘positive’ record with dual mandates, says former BoT deputy
Bandid Nijathaworn says combined monetary and macro-prudential policy mandates have worked well in Asia; Asean+3 credit guarantee set to boost region’s corporate bond market
Bangladeshi governor calls on banks to prevent fraudulent lending
Atiur Rahman criticises lapses in corporate governance that have permitted fraudulent lending; says banks must take responsibility for the issue
IMF paper dissects shadow banking bailouts
IMF study examines how bailouts were used in the shadow banking system during the crisis; suggests the risk of future bailouts remains
Spain’s Frob gets extra funding ahead of further bailouts
Spanish Treasury increases endowment to the Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring; BFA-Bankia confirms receipt of initial tranche of bailout funding
Ingves delivers regulation implementation ‘reality check’
Chairman of Basel Committee on Banking Supervision stresses importance of ensuring implementation of new regulations; sets out areas of focus for international reforms
IMF paper warns fiscal policy is not sufficient to counter capital surges
Working paper finds countercyclical fiscal policy would not have been able to fully counter large capital inflows into many countries in emerging Europe before the financial crisis
ECB’s Asmussen highlights increasing roles of central banks
Jörg Asmussen says central banks have assumed new crisis management responsibility; sets out vision of ECB’s future roles when crisis ends
Bank of Spain paper develops model of market volatility
Researchers produce measure of volatility able to cope with ‘vast’ panels of data; find model performs better than others that use shorter time horizons
Thai governor says Basel III needs improvement
Governor of the Bank of Thailand says Basel III is too tough on trade finance and simple derivatives transactions; discusses challenges facing the eurozone
BoE releases banknotes bearing Chris Salmon’s signature
Signature of the current chief cashier of the Bank of England to appear on new banknotes; production method for notes altered
US households face growing shortfall in banking services, FDIC survey finds
Households in the US designated as ‘unbanked’ and ‘underbanked’ increased to 34 million in 2011, according to new FDIC report
European Commission divulges banking oversight proposals
ECB at the heart of the new single supervisory mechanism; EBA given the task of developing a handbook to ensure coherence in banking supervision across member states
Riksbank unveils designs for new coins
Redesigned Swedish coins to have sun, wind and water theme; will enter circulation in October 2016
French research examines impact of credit rating changes
Banque de France study examines impact of a change in a country's credit rating on investment markets; downgrades have significantly larger effect on spreads
ECB’s Constâncio stresses need for banking union
ECB vice-president says banking union will help tackle increasing divide of markets along national borders; could guide intervention in market risk
State Bank of Vietnam forms payments advice board
New board will advise central bank governor on payments issues; will conduct research and make proposals for ways to improve Vietnamese systems among other duties
Central banks launch joint investigation into Libor scandal
Economic Consultative Committee announces examination of reference rates used in financial markets; market will be consulted
Reserve Bank of New Zealand official discusses banking culture
Don Abel says financial institutions’ survival hangs on their culture; the success of risk management depends on integrity