Financial Stability
Speech by Bob McTeer of the Dallas Fed
SPEECH - Bob McTeer, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas gave a speech on 23 August before the New Roads & E-Roads Conference, Dallas, Texas.
RBI links supervision with risk profile of banks
INDIA - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is planning to roll out a bank-specific risk-based supervision (RBS) system from the last quarter of the financial year 2002-2003.
HKMA call on banks to tighten credit card policies
HONG KONG - Hong Kong's central bank today 15 August called on the city's banks to tighten up their policies for issuing credit cards in an effort to combat an increasing incidence of bankruptcy.
EC put cards on the table and Visa comes up trumps
AUSTRALIA - The European Commission (EC) has approved Visa's rules on interchange fees for debit and credit cards.
High-tech credit card scam spreads
ASIA - International criminal gangs are using high-technology to steal thousands of credit card numbers at a time from trusting shoppers.
Slovenian Co to supply software to Bosnian c bank
BOSNIA - Slovenian computer company Aster signed a contract in the beginning of August 2001 with the Bosnian Central Bank for the implementation of accountancy and bank software.
Tanzania to suspend German currency printer deal
TANZANIA - The Tanzanian government has directed the central bank to rescind its decision to award a German currency printing firm a multi-million dollar tender to print banknote for Tanzania due to a recent report of mass misprinting by the company, the…
Bankers say no ATMs near casinos in border regions
THAILAND - The Thai Bankers' Association says that no members have automated teller machines or credit card approval terminals near or inside casinos located outside Thai territory along the Laotian and Cambodian borders.
Credit card use doubles in South Korea
SOUTH KOREA - Apparently boosted by a range of government measures encouraging the use of creditor cards, the daily use of credit cards almost doubled in the first half of this year from a year ago, the Bank of Korea said on 5 August.
Bank charges given support by Australian study
AUSTRALIA - A study by Macquarie University claims that banks are justified in charging high service fees.
OFT to become payments systems regulator
UK - Competition watchdog - UK treasury believes new powers will cut £1bn 'excess profits' made by banks.
Croatian payment settlement institute to be axed
CROATIA - The Croatian Payment Settlement Institute (ZAP) is to be abolished. Its functions will be divided between the central bank and commercial banks.
Credit card growth blamed for spiralling debt
AUSTRALIA - The proliferation of credit cards has contributed to the bad management of personal debt, according to NRMA Building Society research.
EU want equality of charges for payments
ARTICLE - EC news release, 25 July, Commission proposes principle of equality of charges for domestic payments and cross-border payments in euros.
Eurostat launches online economic database
UK - The European Union's statistical office Eurostat has launched a "Euro-indicators" subscription database aimed at economists and other professionals, some of whom complain that detailed data are hard to obtain.
Bank of Uganda introduces new cheques
UGANDA - Bank of Uganda (BOU) has announced the introduction of new cheques in a bid to standardise and improve the cheque operation system.
Indian committee suggests overseas clearing agent
INDIA - A committee set up to study the Indian financial system's payment and settlement modes has recommended creating an overseas clearing agent and a guarantee fund for foreign exchange clearing, a central bank statement said on 16 July.
Bangladesh central bank launches website
BANGLADESH - Bangladesh Bank, the country's central bank, on 11 July opened its website to allow access to economic information and financial data.
Indonesia c-bank implements new settlement system
INDONESIA - Bank Indonesia (BI), the Indonesian central bank, has implemented the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system in Bandung. RTGS facilitates high-speed, high-value transactions. BI will also use RTGS to monitor the liquidity of banks and as an…
Federal Reserve Bank of New York Research
RESEARCH - Kevin J. Stiroh at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has published an article titled Investing in Information Technology: Productivity Payoffs for U.S. Industries. The article is published in Current Issues in Economics and Finance, June…
China to unify mark on banking cards
CHINA - China's central bank issued a circular Monday demanding that all commercial banks adopt a unified "Yinlian" mark on their banking cards for the purpose of settling in the local currency, Renminbi.
Polish Computerland To Provide Software to Bank
POLAND - Polish computer systems integrator Computerland will provide its software systems to the domestic central bank (Narodowy Bank Polski - NBP).
Euro € - Reynders wants euro boost at cash machine
BELGIUM - Didier Reynders, the Belgian finance minister, on 28 June proposed making euro notes available to consumers on a limited basis prior to next year's January changeover, to help reduce the risk of queues and delays forecast by retail groups.
Third edition of the ECB's "blue book"
EUROPE - The European Central Bank (ECB) is today releasing to the public a report entitled "Payment and securities settlement systems in the European Union", also known as the "Blue Book".