Reserves
India's cbank tightens banks' bullion trade norms
INDIA - The Reserve Bank of India has tightened bullion trading norms for commercial banks after some of them faced potential losses from their exposure to a cooperative bank that specialises in gold trade.
Thai central bank demands forex exposure details
THAILAND - The Bank of Thailand has issued a circular telling banks to provide details on their foreign debt exposure and repayment obligations when they buy dollars from local commercial banks.
New Basel Accord reduces power of bank regulators
CENTRAL BANK RESEARCH - Wimboh Santoso from Bank Indonesia has published a paper "Capital adequacy assessment with respect to market risk". He concludes that the adoption of VaR in the banking industry will reduce the power of regulators to control banks…
ECB's anti-fraud committee-annual report
REPORT - The ECB has published the annual report of its anti-fraud committee, which is chaired by Mr. Justice John Murray. The committee concludes "it has not found any cause for concern with the functioning of the established internal control structure…
Ex-Yugo states agree on division of gold reserves
YUGOSLAVIA - The five states that emerged from ex-Yugoslavia have agreed on the division of gold assets worth some $477 million, Yugoslavia's central bank governor said on Apr 11.
Nigeria's central bank devalues currency naira
NIGERIA - The Central Bank of Nigeria has devalued the country's currency naira by 1.8% following an unprecedented high demand for foreign exchange at the Interbank Foreign Exchange Market, Nigerian newspapers reported on Apr 11.
SNB sells another five tons of gold
SWITZERLAND - The Swiss National Bank sold 5.33 metric tons of gold in the latest 10-day reporting period ended April 10, according to SNB statistics released Apr 13.
Oman $50 million boost for Lebanese cbank reserves
LEBANON - Oman deposited $50 million with Lebanon's central bank on Apr 6 to boost foreign currency reserves and to express its support for the government's economic measures, reported the local Daily Star newspaper.
Asian countries agree currency swap network
ASIA - Asia's leading governments have put the finishing touches to plans for a network of currency swap arrangements to guard against a repeat of the 1997 regional economic crisis as concerns of a new global slowdown grow.
Central banks unlikely to sell gold-BoF forex head
FRANCE - The world's central banks, which hold about 35,000 tonnes of gold, were unlikely to be big sellers, Herve Ferhani, the Bank of France's head of gold and foreign exchange, said on Apr 9, 2001.
Malaysia cbank defends peg, explains reserves drop
MALAYSIA - The Malaysian central bank issued a statement on Apr 9, 2001 in defence of its ringgit/dollar fixed exchange rate after posting a six percent drop in its international reserves in Mar 2001.
CNB appoints new executive director for markets
CZECH REPUBLIC - The Czech National Bank has announced that Tomas Kvapil will be the new executive director for financial markets as of Apr 1, 2001, filling the post which was left vacant when Radek Urban left at the end of February.
Japan MOF's Kuroda -will act if FX trends continue
JAPAN - Top financial diplomat Haruhiko Kuroda said on Apr 6 that Japan would take action in currency markets if current trends continued.
Former deputy head of central bank released
UKRAINE - According to Ukrainian TV, a former deputy head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Volodymyr Bondar, was released from arrest.
The Adequacy of Hong Kong's Foreign Reserves
HONG KONG - Experience suggests that Hong Kong needs considerably more in foreign reserves than the bare theoretical minimum to maintain currency stability, says Joseph Yam, chief exexcutive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in his weekly viewpoint…
Bank of England interest rate option study
CENTRAL BANK RESEARCH - In the first of a series of research papers published by the Centre for Central Banking Studies at the Bank of England, Richhild Moessner provides a survey of the structure and use of the over the counter options market focussing…
Austrian cbank says it sold 30 tonnes of gold
AUSTRIA - The Austrian National Bank said on Apr 5, 2001 that it had recently sold 30 tonnes of gold, ending speculation about who was behind sales that came to light in European Central Bank figures on Apr 4.
Limited boost to euro from Lithuania litas repeg
LITHUANIA - The euro will only get psychological boost from Lithuania's move towards pegging its litas to the euro as the accompanying shift in foreign exchange reserves is not seen generating much demand for euros.
African Development Bank gets new treasury head
AFRICA - The African Development Bank said on Apr 5, 2001 that Arunma Oteh, currently the manager of its investment division, had been appointed treasurer with effect from April 2.
Danmarks Nationalbank Monetary Review
DENMARK - The Danmarks Nationalbank has released its quarterly Monetary Review, which includes a number of interesting articles written by the central bank's staff. There are two articles on risk management: one about managing interest rate risk in a…
China FX reserves rising to $200bn-BusinessWeek
CHINA - China's foreign reserves will rise steadily, enabling it to hold its yuan peg to the dollar in the face of the weakening yen, US-based BusinessWeek magazine on Apr 3, 2001 quoted central bank Governor Dai Xianglong as saying.
SNB profits boosted by gold revaluation
SWITZERLAND - In its 2000 annual report released on Apr 3, 2001, the Swiss National Bank said that net profit for 2000 had jumped to 28.2 billion Swiss francs ($16.3 billion), boosted by a one-off 27.7 billion franc revaluation of gold holdings.
Risk measurement and systemic risk conference
CENTRAL BANK CONFERENCE - On March 7-8, 2002, the Committee on the Global Financial System (CGFS), in co-operation with the Bank of Japan, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the European Central Bank, will host, under the auspices…
GSIC cuts investments in tech companies
SINGAPORE - The Government of Singapore Investment Corp has reduced its interests in Malaysia's technology sector in the face of sluggish US demand for the country's electronics products.