Monetary Policy
Curacao and Sint Maarten banks hit with ‘credit freeze’ in 2012
Central bank prevented banks from extending new loans after failing to control the islands’ rapid credit growth through more conventional measures
IMF looks to ECB for more monetary easing
IMF encourages the ECB to cut interest rates and launch a new round of long-term low-interest loans to buy more time for eurozone banks and legislators
Central Bank of Nigeria ‘masterstroke’ aims at two-pronged tightening
Move to raise cash reserve ratio to 50% on public sector deposits represents ‘significant tightening' by the central bank, which left interest rates unchanged
Dutch paper quantifies impact of FOMC guidance on market rates
Working paper says Fed forward guidance lowered market interest rates up to seven years ahead; flattened yield curves in markets for US Treasuries and eurodollar futures
Hungarian central bank signals rate cut slowdown
Monetary council cuts benchmark rate by 25 basis points for 12th consecutive meeting; says global volatility may justify a change in pace in coming months
Singapore brings inflation back in range, but household debt worries persist
Monetary Authority of Singapore warns a return to normal global monetary conditions will carry risks; says 'some' households will be at risk when interest rates rise as US tapers quantitative easing
Turkish rate rise brings easing to an end
Central bank increases overnight lending rate by 75 basis points; MPC signals willingness to tighten further as inflation jumps above 8%
ECB paper says monetary transmission ‘far stronger’ in some eurozone countries than others
Interest rate changes have greater impact on bank lending in Germany and Italy than in countries with fewer commercial banks such as Spain and France
G20 governors and governments put employment and growth centre stage
Meeting of G20 central bank governors and finance ministers make growth and jobs their top priority; monetary policy should ensure price stability and support economic recover within mandates
Gilt yields rose by 50bps across the yield curve in Q2, BoE report shows
The increase reflected in part a rise in sovereign bond yields across a number of developed countries
BoJ policy board member signals possibility of further measures
Takehiro Sato says the Bank of Japan could employ additional policy tools in its bid to double the monetary base; Abenomics gets public backing in parliamentary election
Eurozone core ‘regain net influence’ over bond markets, finds Irish paper
Technical paper examines spillovers in the eurozone’s sovereign debt markets; finds the impact of stressed countries on the wider region has diminished
PBoC removes lending rate floor
From tomorrow, Chinese banks will be able to price loans as low as they like - but in the short term the effect is unlikely to be felt as loans are generally priced above benchmark rate
‘Surplus' countries must act to help limit external imbalances, says BIS paper
BIS economist Philip Turner says external imbalances can threaten financial stability in creditor countries as well as in debtor countries; calls it ‘an important but unresolved issue of international monetary reform'
ECB collateral move aims to cut ‘wrong-way risk' while boosting SME lending
Observers think incentivising of SME loan ABS could be precursor for an SME-targeted long-term refinancing operation
Robert Pringle's Viewpoint: Let the Fed lead
Implicit coordination of monetary policies under Fed leadership is better than none at all
EM central banks should take cue from ‘the best in the world', says RBI governor
Duvvuri Subbarao also highlights the historical differences in mandates between EM and advanced economy central banks
Bernanke dismisses talk of tightening
The Federal Reserve will continue to support the economy ‘for the foreseeable future’ regardless of when it slows the pace of asset purchases
ECB relaxes collateral rules to include more ABS
ECB changes rules on acceptable collateral to include asset-backed securities with two single A ratings; haircuts on ABS are also cut
Bank of Canada ‘sharpens’ forward guidance
Governing council commits to holding interest rate at 1% for as long as there is ‘significant slack’ in the economy, inflation is ‘muted’ and household debt remains under control
Bundesbank paper contrasts techniques for identifying monetary policy shocks
Discussion paper compares different methods for identifying monetary policy shocks; looks at use of VAR models and narrative time series
IMF paper highlights importance of macro-pru and monetary policy co-ordination
Researchers find that policymakers tend to use macro-prudential instruments more quickly ‘if the ability to conduct monetary policy is somehow constrained'
BoE's unanimous vote to keep QE unchanged raises eyebrows
The MPC said an investigation of additional policy options would make it unwise to expand QE at the moment; At the same time IMF calls for more stimulus
BoJ policy board divided over bond markets
Minutes from the Bank of Japan’s June meeting reveal members debated whether to introduce additional measures to stabilise long-term interest rates