Financial Stability
Robert Pringle’s Viewpoint: Wider lessons of the Cyprus bail-out
The clumsy attempts to resolve a banking crisis in Cyprus underline the need to make more rapid progress on wider issues afflicting much larger financial markets in Europe
Eurozone rocked by Cypriot depositor haircut plan
Markets take a hit, peripheral bond yields rise and commentators raise fears of contagious bank runs as Cypriot parliament debates plans to take 6.75% haircut from ‘insured’ depositors
Central banks can help promote reference rate choice, says BIS report
Bank for International Settlements working group finds money market appetite for adopting overnight reference rate; says central banks can help promote transparency
Banque de France research proposes framework to address stress-test failings
Researchers use statistical tests for detection of outliers to characterise severity and duration of stressed periods; suggests length of shock depends on the initial variables
Icelandic paper finds country's response to banking crisis was optimal
Research by Central Bank of Iceland looks at various alternatives to Iceland’s handling of the 2008 banking collapse, but finds none yield better outcomes than the baseline scenario
MAS warns on fragmented clearing and reporting
Asian financial markets have made progress in setting up CCPs and trade repositories, but greater harmonisation is needed across borders, Singaporean central bank warns
IMF urges ‘more forceful action’ to end Europe’s woes
Report on European financial stability says situation remains ‘tenuous’ in eurozone; calls on authorities to act fast to repair balance sheets and set up banking union
Central bankers split over whether 3% leverage ratio is enough
Majority of participants in CentralBanking.com poll support implementation of Basel III; readers divided over questions of raising leverage ratio
CFTC's O'Malia: No progress on Sef rules in past two weeks
Mid-April next window for vote, but no reason for optimism, says CFTC commissioner
Nalm 2013: Kotz stresses necessity of exceptional policy despite moral hazard
Former Bundesbank board member says exceptional response by major central banks to the financial crisis was unavoidable as cost of inaction would have been ‘massive’
MAS’s Menon says Singapore is ready for shifting financial ‘centre of gravity’
Managing director says Singapore is well prepared to take advantage of a shift in finance towards Asia, with strong regulation and close links to the rest of the region
BoE research warns of coming financing problems for private equity firms
Quarterly bulletin article highlights problems on the horizon for private equity firms that over-leveraged before the financial crisis, as their debt comes to maturity under much tighter conditions
IMF attempts to sculpt better stress tests
Stress tests are ‘more art than science’ but can be improved and expanded, according to IMF study; cannot be standardised across countries
ECB’s Cœuré says financial fragmentation ‘remains high’
Executive board member Benoît Cœuré highlights evidence of receding fragmentation in the eurozone but warns overall level still too high
Basel Committee will assess whether capital rules need simplifying
Stefan Ingves, chairman of the Basel Committee, says simplicity is "desirable" but it is too soon to judge whether capital rules are overly complex
Dutch central bank paper examines impact of capital controls on currency crises
Study finds lower capital controls reduce the probability of a currency crisis, particularly in advanced economies where there is greater institutional development
Bundesbank paper raises concerns over accuracy of systemic risk measures
Researchers find market-based systemic risk measures may give a façade of safety even as banks enter ‘major tail risks’
UK gears up to new era of prudential regulation
The UK will adopt ‘twin peaks’ supervision in April in a bid to restore integrity to its financial system. Chris Jeffery talks to the Bank of England’s Sarah Breeden about the challenges ahead
BoJ unveils policy for oversight of market infrastructure
The Bank of Japan reveals new policy for its oversight of payment and settlement systems and CCPs; mainly concerned with mitigating systemic risk
Riksbank’s payment system restored after technical failure
Sweden’s large-value payments system, RIX, restored to full functionality after failing to start yesterday afternoon. But cause of disruption still unknown
Italy’s Visco concerned by ‘blind backlash’ against financial firms
Bank of Italy governor issues reminder that finance does bring some benefits, but says pre-crisis ‘benign neglect’ by regulators was foolish
T2S programme hit by delays with costs set to soar
Europe’s new securities settlement system, Target2-Securities, faces tough implementation schedule, say Clearstream and Euroclear officials; ECB reaffirms commitment to price plan and timescale
Constâncio identifies benefits of banking union to non-members
ECB vice-president says European countries outside the new SSM will benefit from an enhanced banking union; stresses value of increased financing to real economies
ECB’s LTROs contribute to 12% drop in repo transactions
Icma report warns ‘abundant’ liquidity provided by ECB’s long-term refinancing operations is undermining the repo market in Europe; notes signs of increased risk appetite