Financial Stability
Hong Kong's RTGS passes share-dealing-surge test
Optimisers in Hong Kong's high-value payments system meant it was able to cope with the explosion in initial purchase offers and lively market trading in 2007, Esmond Lee and Sara Yip, two members of the Financial Infrastructure Department at the region…
Overnight rate unchanged despite BoE injection
The Bank of England's attempt to lower sterling short-term interbank borrowing costs by adding £5 billion ($10 billion) to the money markets looks to have failed.
Turmoil set to impact Swiss exporters: SNB's Roth
The financial market turbulence is unlikely to leave Switzerland unscathed, said Jean-Pierre Roth, the chairman of the governing board of the Swiss National Bank.
Fed works over weekend to counter market stress
The Federal Reserve took its fourth emergency action in ten days on Sunday 16 March, cutting the rate at which it offers discount window funds and attempting to boost trading in securitisation markets.
Old Lady adds an extra £5bn
The Bank of England injected £5 billion ($10 billion) into the money markets on Monday 17 March after overnight interbank rates shot up on the back of Bear Stearns's collapse.
Fed credibility at risk, warn commentators
Economic commentators have largely slammed the raft of measures that the Federal Reserve has introduced over the past ten days.
Fed funds Bear Stearns on liquidity fears
The Federal Reserve on Friday 14 March agreed to provide emergency funding to Bear Stearns, a troubled investment bank.
Fed issues new $5 bill
The first of the Federal Reserve's redesigned $5 bills was used to buy a collection of former President Abraham Lincoln's speeches.
Thailand's Nijathaworn on the current turmoil
The unwinding of global imbalances, triggered by corrections in the US housing market that began in 2006, has caused the current global financial turbulence, said Bandid Nijathaworn, a deputy governor of the Bank of Thailand.
Central banks announce second joint effort
The Federal Reserve will accept banks' mortgage-backed securities as part of a raft of liquidity measures announced by five of the world's most powerful monetary authorities on Tuesday 11 March.
Rapid deterioration led Fed to go it alone: Kohn
The deterioration in money markets was so rapid that the Federal Reserve last Friday did not have time to coordinate a joint announcement of liquidity measures with other central banks in the same way as last December and which had such a favourable…
IMF's Portugal on liquidity provision
Central banks should continue to provide liquidity as needed to assure the smooth functioning of markets, said Murilo Portugal, a deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Fed to add funds as liquidity pressures re-emerge
The Federal Reserve is set to pledge up to $140 billion in extra funds in a bid to soothe the third wave of rising money market tensions since August.
RBA's Debelle on bond market
Australian banks, having sound balance sheets, have been able to maintain their pre-crisis pace of bond issuance and have continued to directly access wholesale funding throughout the recent period of turmoil, said Guy Debelle, an assistant governor at…
Credit crunch – phase two
The credit crisis that started in August last year has moved into a destabilising second phase, with equity markets and the real economy looking increasingly shaky. This section analyses central banks’ response to the long-running crisis
Who signs the banknotes?
Most banknotes bear signatures, but who are the signatories? Åke Lönnberg explains
Lessons of Northern Rock
British lawmakers are divided over how to fix a broken regulatory framework
Interview: Charles Goodhart
Claire Jones spoke with the former Bank of England policymaker about the co-ordinated liquidity interventions and the move towards aggressive policy easing by the Fed
News analysis: Forced into action
Claire Jones, the editor of Central Bank News, analyses how uncertainty threatened to cripple the interbank market and called for a unique response from the central banks
Bernanke spooks markets with bank failure warning
The dollar hit a record low against the euro after Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, warned that small banks could fail in the coming months.
EU building and consumer sectors most sensitive
The eurozone's construction and consumer sectors are typically the most sensitive to shocks in GDP and inflation variables, states a new European Central Bank paper.
Stability requires public-private coordination
The close cooperation of policymakers and market participants is essential for achieving sustainable growth and preserving stability, said Lucas Papademos, the vice president of the European Central Bank.
Progress masks greater threat of severe crisis
Financial innovation and greater macroeconomic stability may have made financial crises in developed countries less likely than in the past, but potentially more severe, research published by the Bank of England finds.