Financial Stability
RBA payments head hails ‘hub-based’ retail payments platform
Reserve Bank of Australia’s Tony Richards delivers update on country’s new payments platform and the central bank’s work towards a faster settlement system
Adherence to Islamic financing principles could benefit credit unions
Islamic savings products would make institutions more resilient, and possibly strengthen incentives for good governance, IMF working paper argues
US needs to improve supervision of insurers, FSB peer review concludes
Dombret-led review says US is making progress in reducing systemic risk, but insurance supervision architecture is ‘fragmented'; FSB also publishes progress report on compensation practices
Sweden puts FSA in charge of financial stability
Central bank passed over as government stresses importance of democratic accountability; new financial stability board and bolstered foreign exchange reserves also announced
BIS sizes up derivatives reforms and Basel III progress
Bank for International Settlements releases one report on the expected benefits and costs of OTC derivative reforms, and another on countries’ progress in implementing Basel III
Sarb looks to rein in money market liquidity
South African Reserve Bank concerned that high levels of liquidity could threaten the monetary policy transmission mechanism; plans to drain excess cash over a number of years
Mauritius introduces polymer banknotes
The Bank of Mauritius joins an exclusive but growing group of central banks that is looking to plastic money to curtail counterfeiting
Israeli banking supervisor floats full risk weights for mortgages
Draft guidance presented to Bank of Israel advisory committee yesterday would also force banks to limit the use of variable interest rates and do away with long-term loans
Central bank insider selected to run Russia's new ‘mega-regulator'
As head of the FMS, Sergey Shvetsov, a Bank of Russia deputy, will be in charge of ‘controlling, regulating and supervising' the country's financial markets from September 1
People: StanChart's new global RMB team; RBC hires Asian equities head from JPM
Carmen Ling quits Citi to head Standard Chartered's new global renminbi-focused team; RBC hires new head of Asian equities from JP Morgan in Hong Kong; and more
LCRs in low-liquidity settings lead to big externalities
RBA research paper suggests introducing a liquidity coverage ratio in certain settings leads to large liquidity premiums and pushes the risk-free rate to the floor of the interest rate corridor
Bundesbank’s Dombret urges co-ordination over shadow banking
Executive board member says shadow banking activities are 'not evil' but do produce systemic risks; highlights need to track banks’ exposures to shadow entities and manage ownership links
Fed urges big banks to improve internal capital planning
Federal Reserve says lenders must strengthen methods for assessing risks; reveals 18 biggest US lenders face challenges in one or more areas
RBNZ restricts low-deposit mortgage lending
Graeme Wheeler says banks will face ‘speed limit’ on their high loan-to-value mortgage lending from October 1; RBNZ hopes to avoid raising rates while currency remains over-valued
Robert Pringle’s Viewpoint: Managing without safe assets – tricky but not impossible
Unless sovereigns provide a credible backstop to the banking system the private sector will have to do the best it can, writes Robert Pringle
‘Tiered' clearing networks increases CCP risk, study finds
Complex clearing networks ‘appear to increase' some risks faced by CCPs, according to working paper investigating the ‘topology' of such networks
Boston Fed paper flags need for research into debt dynamics in recovery period
Research into the relationship between debt and consumption to the household level is ‘limited’ and does not ‘directly speak’ to the United States' recent weak performance, says discussion paper
Bank of Slovenia widens group of stress test banks
Ten lenders, including three deemed systemically important, will be scrutinised by leading accounting firms in a joint effort with the Slovenian finance ministry
Belarusian chair Ermakova reveals how she tackled runaway inflation
National Bank of the Republic of Belarus chair Nadezhda Ermakova tells CentralBanking.com about the central bank’s efforts to deal with the 2011 currency and ensuing inflation crisis
UBS prepares to buy ‘bad bank' assets back from SNB
StabFund effectively cut UBS's exposure to troubled credit markets in the US and Europe by buying up the bank's illiquid securities for $38.7 billion using funds largely borrowed from the central bank
RBA to provide A$300 billion for committed liquidity facility
RBA contribution will ‘not materially impact' its balance sheet, says deputy Debelle; banks will pay a penalty rate to access the CLF, which will help them meet Basel III liquidity requirements
ECB paper finds capital controls can increase stock price volatility
Research paper finds that a tax on capital inflows can stabilise currency markets, but amplify shocks in single-country stock markets
Bank Negara Malaysia looks to co-operatives to boost financial inclusion
Central bank sets out framework for assessing whether a co-operative is governed well enough to accept deposits from non-members and extend finance to the ‘underserved’
BIS paper weighs up early-warning indicators
Working paper examines which indicators are most effective at foreshadowing banking crises; uses a new statistical method based on particular policy requirements