Governance
Signs of progress in Iraq
If the business of central banking may occasionally seem a touch hairy in Iraq, it isn't all bad. Although Faleh Salman, the man who has now been confirmed as governor of the central bank by the American interim administration, was the hapless victim of…
A twenty-first century BIS
73 years on and the world's oldest international financial organisationwith it, the BIS is alive and well. As usual, a swarm of central bankgovernors great and small descended on Basel last weekend to participate inthe BIS annual meetings.
King assumes his throne
The long-awaited moment has arrived: Mervyn King has moved into EddieGeorge's offices on Threadneedle Street, now that he has been baptised asgovernor of the Bank of England.
Dogfighting over the ECB
The European League for Economic Cooperation (ELEC) has issued aresolution betraying unease that appointments to the ECBexecutive board could degenerate into a more or less continuous politicaldogfight.
Stand-off in Bulgaria
The mess in the ECB appointment process also needs to be cleared up to set anexample to other countries as to how these things should be done. Bulgaria might have benefited from this.
A lean machine
The central bank in Ghana is cutting back its staff drastically. Some central banks in the Eurosystem will be jealous.
Crockett honoured
Andrew Crockett always did have one of those names that look as if it is just waiting to have a "sir" in front of it. Now the space has been duly filled as the former central banker and general manager of the BIS received a knighthood from the Queen of…
Central banker and football fan
Mervyn King, the new governor of the Bank of England is a well-known supporter of Aston Villa, the English football club. In fact, until recently King was senior vice-president of the club.
Hooray for Trichet!
So the Paris courts have once and for all cleared Banque de France governor Jean-Claude Trichet and his predecessor Jacques de Larosiere from the unfounded allegations that had been made about their role in the Credit Lyonnais affair more than 10 years…
The Eddie and Gordon show
Praise was liberally showered on Sir Edward George at his City swansong, the annual Lord Mayor's banquet for the square mile's great and good - Eddie's 27th in a row. Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, praised his integrity, steadfastness and…
Iraqi governor faces the mob
A central banker's lot doesn't really get much less appealing than that of Faleh Salman, the man now shouldered with the responsibility of running Iraq's sickly central bank. To avert total meltdown of what little remains of the Iraqi financial system,…
Balcerowicz survives
Embattled central bankers in Poland triumphed after a skirmish with finance minister Kolodko, who has now resigned after failing to sandbag the central bank into shelling out a further 5bn zlotys (having already parted with 9bn zlotys) from its…
Female deputy for the RBI
In a peculiar case of slighted honour, an executive director at the Reserve Bank of India resigned when the central bank followed in the Bank of England's footsteps by appointing its first female deputy governor last week.
Reddy for the top?
Incidentally, there is a rumour going around that the RBI governor himself, Bimal Jalan, is considering quitting in order to become a member of India's parliament (he first became governor in 1997 after a career largely in the finance ministry and was re…
Phantom resignation in Nigeria
Nigeria's central bank became the object of a bit of jiggery pokery recently when local media wrongly reported that the governor, Joseph Sanusi, had resigned. Newsmakers went to investigate, but could not locate the sources that had originated these …
Grilled Lambert
Richard Lambert was given a run for his money before Britain's Treasury Select Committee when prodded and poked over what on earth he was doing on the Bank of England's MPC (monetary policy committee) without an economics degree to his name.
Crockett honoured
Andrew Crockett always did have one of those names that look as if it is just waiting to have a "sir" in front of it. Now the space has been duly filled as the former central banker and general manager of the BIS received a knighthood from the Queen of…
Iraq shadow over the BIS?
Some European central bankers are said to be unhappy with the recent appointment of Roger Ferguson as head of the Financial Stability Forum. It is not that Ferguson is thought to lack qualifications for the job - quite the contrary, there is much respect…
Shift at the FSF
But so far as the FSF goes, there is more to the criticism than sheer old European bloody-mindedness. The appointment does signal a shift.
Basel bunkum
No one understands the new Basel accord. Grown men are reduced to tears when they try. There are simply too many details for any one person to digest. But it is troubling indeed to learn that people don't even seem to understand how it was arrived at in…
Trichet brings SDRM down to earth
The IMF's much-vaunted Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanism is the latest casualty in a string of apparently wasted efforts in attempting to find some way to save the world from the terrors of sovereign default. But a few months ago Banque de France…
Duisenberg soldiers on
No central bank takes kindly to politicians tampering with their business, and the ECB is no exception. In advance of its long-awaited rate cut this week, the ECB was told by Belgian finance minister Didier Reynders to be more active: "It is about time…
Duisenberg soldiers on
No central bank takes kindly to politicians tampering with their business, and the ECB is no exception. In advance of its long-awaited rate cut this week, the ECB was told by Belgian finance minister Didier Reynders to be more active: "It is about time…
More dynamic BOJ sees off media critics
Senior BOJ staff professes themselves pleased with the public relations impact of the more active communications strategy followed since Toshihiko Fukui took over from Hayami-san as governor in March. "Even Yomiuri Shimbun has stopped criticizing us,"…