Financial Stability
Banking risks must be considered together
The impact of credit and interest rate risk, the two most important dangers faced by commercial banks, must be measured jointly, research published by the Bank of England finds.
Merrill reports $8.6 billion loss for 2007
Merrill Lynch, an investment bank, on Thursday reported $11.5 billion-worth of subprime-related writedowns for the fourth quarter of 2007, taking its losses for last year to $8.6 billion. The bank recorded losses for the fourth quarter alone of 2007 was …
IMF to review central bank response to turmoil
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is set to investigate the reaction of leading central banks to the interbank turmoil that hit markets in the wake of the subprime crisis.
Interbank borrowing reduces bank risk
Long-term interbank exposures result in lower risk for the borrowing banks, research published by the Centre for Economic Policy and Research finds.
Fed and BoE auction results show interbank easing
Tensions in money markets showed further signs of abating on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England revealed the results of their latest open-market operations.
Fund manager knocks Bank's role in Rock saga
Philip Richards, the chief executive of RAB Capital, one of two hedge funds that are the biggest shareholders in Northern Rock, the beleaguered mortgage lender, attacked the Bank of England and its governor, Mervyn King, for its handling of the credit…
Injections were vital: Deutsche Bank's Ackermann
Central banks' liquidity injections were crucial in averting the collapse of financial institutions, said Josef Ackermann, the chairman of Deutsche Bank.
Rock repays Bank debt with JPMorgan sale
Northern Rock, the beleaguered British mortgage lender, is to pay back some of its Bank of England debt through the sale of a mortgage portfolio worth £2.2 billion to JPMorgan, the- American investment bank.
Complex rules pose a threat to stability
Opaque regulations not only deepen financial instability but also raise the likelihood of banking crises, research published by the Bank of Korea finds.
Japanese business prepares for e-money surge
The number of payment devices for processing e-money transactions in Japan is set to almost double by 2010 as the payment method gains popularity with consumers.
Central banks get cheaper cash from companies
Private-sector involvement in the printing of banknotes substantially lowers costs, research published by Colombia's Banco de la Republica finds.
Fed's Rosengren calls for banks to declare losses
Banks must fully disclose their losses to limit the damage of the subprime fallout, says Eric Rosengren, the president of the Boston Fed.
Central banks partly to blame for crunch
The creation of excessive global liquidity by key central banks was one of a number of phenomena that led to the current financial crisis, says Willem Buiter, a former member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee, now an economics professor…
G10 reassured by impact of joint injections
Central bank governors and finance ministers from the G10 economies were "very satisfied" with the effect of the coordinated action to ease interbank tensions, said Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB).
Fed pledges more cash to combat interbank woe
In a bid to further ease money market tensions, the Federal Reserve said on Friday that it will increase the amount of extra funds on offer through its additional open market operations after both of its December auctions were heavily oversubscribed.
Differences are a strength of Fed strategy: Kohn
Recent disparities in speeches by FOMC members on the economic outlook in the United States reflect the pace of change rather than any failure in the Fed's communication strategy, says Donald Kohn, the vice-chairman of the Federal Reserve board.
Gono explains decision to renege on note change
Gideon Gono, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, has blamed the weather for backtracking on plans to take the Z$200,000 ($6.67) note out of circulation.
Euro makes rapid progress in Cyprus and Malta
Euro banknotes already account for 50% of the total in circulation in both Malta and Cyprus, the two Mediterranean islands that adopted the single currency on Tuesday.
Northern Rock shows fallibility of communication
The run on Northern Rock, a British mortgage lender, illustrates the potential downside of central bank communication around stability issues, says Gary Stern, the president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve.
Venezuela lops zeros off bolivar to curb inflation
Venezuela revamped the bolivar on Tuesday by slashing three zeros from the currency in a bid to dampen rampant inflation, which hit 20.7% in the 12 months to November.
Interbank rates plummet as year-end passes
Pressure on the banking industry eased on Wednesday with spreads between money market and central banks' benchmark interest rates narrowing as the end-of-year liquidity panic passed. The falls indicate that the central banks' efforts to alleviate some of…
Cyprus and Malta join eurozone
The eurozone became a little larger on Tuesday as Cyprus and Malta, two Mediterranean islands, adopted the single currency.
The blame game
The decision of many central banks, most notably the Federal Reserve, to lower rates in the wake of the dotcom crash, has drawn criticism from some quarters post-credit crunch. But, Claire Jones, editor of Central Bank News, argues blame for the crisis…
Time has proved us right, says Trichet
The European Central Bank's (ECB) decision to inject hundreds of billions of extra euros into the money markets to alleviate tensions looks to be the correct one, says Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the central bank.