Financial Stability
Powell: Fed will ‘make sure’ swap market can ditch Libor
Central banks want to break the swap market's reliance on Libor, but the planned risk-free alternatives will have to be liquid, and the Fed expects to play a coordinating role
EMs evaluate macro-prudential tools in BIS publication
Central bankers across Asia and Europe assess their countries’ efforts to mitigate spillovers from monetary policy in advanced economies in a major BIS publication
Dealing with ‘insidious' crises a ‘difficult proposition' for policy-makers, argues IMF paper
Conventional balance-sheet crises, however, are more effectively detected and contained than before the financial crisis, paper adds
Malaysian central bank looks to set up financial ombudsman service
Scheme would ensure ‘effective and fair handling of complaints' against financial service providers, says bank, which adds service could be up and running in 2015
Bank of Israel urges government to keep its fiscal discipline
Central bank, which cut interest rates to lowest level ever on Monday, warns exceeding deficit target could hurt country's fiscal credibility
Dutch central bank sells claims on failed Icelandic lender Landsbanki
The Netherlands Bank recovers $2.2bn it paid out to Dutch depositors of Landsbanki in 2008 as it sells last claims on failed bank's estate to Deutsche Bank
Colombian economist extends Bernanke-Gertler model for open economies
Model holds for open as well as closed economies, Central Bank of Colombia paper finds, concluding that they are even more vulnerable to asset price bubbles
Bundesbank paper explores liquidity shock transmission
Claudia Buch and Linda Goldberg summarise the findings of empirical studies conducted across 11 countries to explore liquidity risk transmission
Reserve Bank of India to trial ‘plastic banknotes’
Annual report details plans to run a ‘field trial’ of plastic banknotes by 2015, in addition to several other initiatives aimed at improving the central bank’s cash management
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe sets up ‘bad bank'
'Bad bank' will assume a growing number of NPLs from troubled lenders; NPLs in Zimbabwe amounted to 18.5% of banks' assets in June, according to central bank
Central Bank of Hungary brings in macro-prudential borrowing caps
New caps will limit payment-to-income levels especially on FX loans; central bank hopes one side-effect will be to discourage the informal economy
ECB prize winners size up shadow banking
Working paper published by the ECB considers how regulatory arbitrage and the shadow banking sector can undermine commercial bank safety nets
Finnish paper says Sepa 'not enough’ on its own
Researchers argue that Sepa is an ‘important’ initiative but further measures will be needed to create an efficient payments system; call for ‘vigorous’ competition policies
Carney urged to help end masking of swap counterparties
'Ambitious but realistic' deadline could be set for banks to stop hiding counterparty details – the industry’s response to a conflict between privacy and reporting rules
ECB designates four 'systemic' payments systems subject to new regulatory standards
European Central Bank identifies four payment systems as systemically important, which will now be governed by stricter oversight standards that entered into force last week
ECB economists design early-warning guide to trigger macro-prudential intervention
Working paper isolates key indicators to tell policy-makers when to use macro-prudential measures, and which ones to use
Central Bank of Nigeria defends reintroduction of fees on ATM withdrawals
Bank says reintroduction of fee will hinder abuse of expensive ATMs and promote its cash-less policy; fee was abolished in 2012 to encourage use of ATMs
Rwandan central bank sees inflation and interest rates drop in H1
Semi-annual financial stability statement finds reasons to be cheerful as inflation comes in below target and market rates fall, in line with monetary policy
Riksbank's first deputy calls for macro-prudential measures that directly limit household debt
Kerstin af Jochnick suggests amortisation requirements and ‘review of tax deductions for interest paid' in Stockholm speech
Irish economists estimate property debt overhang on SMEs
Central Bank of Ireland researchers find a minimum of 20% of SMEs have direct exposures to property debt, which makes them more likely to default
IMF researchers say CCBs ‘show less promise’ than other macro-prudential tools
Working paper finds counter-cyclical capital buffers are less effective than measures aimed at banks’ assets and liabilities in reducing the rate of asset growth on their balance sheets
Cœuré sees cyber threats and virtual currencies rising on payments agenda
Chair of the CPSS suggests the organisation should look beyond securities and derivatives markets in the 25th anniversary edition of Central Banking journal
IMF hosts Middle East forum on Basel III compliance
Middle Eastern countries work together to ensure adequacy of local lenders' capital and liquidity; new report credits region's ‘strict capital quality rules'
Limits to foreign lending would cut bail-out risks, Banque de France paper claims
Paper examines why countries bail each other out, and argues a tax on lending to foreign countries would stop investors betting on an implicit guarantee