Financial Stability
Bank of Portugal initiates administrative proceedings against 14 banks in first half of 2014
Throughout the period the Portuguese central bank also issued 357 recommendations 'to require the correction of irregularities and infringements detected'
Lautenschläger expects SSM to expand beyond eurozone
Supervisory board vice-chair ‘anticipates’ that more countries will join the SSM when it is up and running; ECB has not received any formal applications to date
Malaysia’s Zeti sees investment as next step for Islamic finance
Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia calls for new infrastructure to facilitate the development of Islamic investment intermediation
ECB paper finds the Fed ‘well-served’ by its stress index
Researchers from ECB and Fed examine whether the economy behaves differently during periods of high stress, and the implications this has for policy-makers' models
IMF calls on Nordics to keep housing markets in check
Article IV reports warn Norges Bank will eventually have to normalise policy rate above inflation target and call for Swedish macro-pru measures targeted at households
China’s cooling property market ‘a challenge’ to growth objectives
RBA governor Glenn Stevens sees property market as a challenge to Chinese authorities’ growth objectives; Dallas Fed economists concerned about impact on shadow banking sector
Maltese banks see increase in non-performing loans
The domestic banks in Malta had to increase their provisioning levels further to respond to the credit risk, notes central bank
Europe doubles RMB transactions with Greater China in one year
European hubs fuel growth in renminbi usage with 10% share of global payments, after major financial hubs sign swap agreements with the People's Bank of China
RBI economist proposes financial conditions index for India
Index aims to provide a snapshot of financial conditions in the country in a bid to provide an early warning of crises and overcome information asymmetry
Counter-cyclical liquidity hoarding could ‘strongly amplify' business cycles, according to ECB paper
Paper develops a ‘new balance sheet channel of shock transmission' that works through the composition of banks' asset portfolios
Rating agencies must report on controls under new SEC rules
Amendments to SEC's credit rating agency rules focus on ensuring robust internal controls and preventing conflicts of interest
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