Central Banks
Albania governor calls for Balkan payments system in annual conference speech
The Bank of Albania's 10th annual international conference celebrated the 20th anniversary of the central bank and the 100th anniversary of its declaration of independence
ECB holds rates despite continued disinflation
European Central Bank holds refinance rate at 0.25% and shuns additional policy instruments despite inflation falling to 0.7%; attention turns to updated and expanded staff forecasts in March
Regulatory reliance to blame for faulty credit ratings, paper claims
The growing importance of credit ratings to financial regulators and prudential regulation explains more of the distortion in ratings than the question of who pays for the rating
Bank of Ghana hikes rates and tightens forex controls in bid to defend currency
Central bank raises interest rates by 200bp to 18% at emergency meeting; follows yesterday's decree that all domestic transactions must be denominated in local cedi
US Congress committee highlights Volcker rule anomalies
Fed's Tarullo among regulators grilled by US Congress over apparently arbitrary exemptions to the Volcker rule
Lagarde lends weight to global clamour for policy co-ordination
IMF managing director joins Rajan and others in renewed calls for monetary policy to take into account international spillovers, as Fed taper rocks emerging markets
NY Fed research head calls for data innovation
James McAndrews encourages an audience of central bankers to find novel uses for existing data sets as well as collecting new ones
People: Former PM joins Czech central bank; Bank of Canada appoints ‘special adviser'
Czech National Bank replaces outgoing board member with man who was Prime Minister until last week; Canada appoints special adviser with financial system expertise
‘Normal' Norway has no need of forward guidance, says monetary policy chief
Head of Norges Bank's monetary policy division says interest rate forecasts are all the forward guidance his country needs, as the crisis did not hit Norway to the same extent
Fed proposals for updated payments system meets with mixed response
Some industry practitioners tell Fed it should move faster on payments reform, though others argue if it isn't broken, don't fix it
Thailand MPC split over rate cut
Minutes from the policy-makers' January meeting show that a motion to cut rates in the face of growing political unrest was defeated by four votes to three
Bank of England says BBA could co-ordinate response to banking cyber attacks
Sweeping exercise aimed at preparing UK banks against attacks against financial infrastructure by ‘hostile nation state' also sees some firms struggle with new dual regulatory structure
Reserve Bank of Fiji targets more effective communication
The central bank will build a new communications framework and resurrect plans for a financial stability report as part of its strategic outlook for 2014-18
ECB reshuffles executive board
Benoît Coeuré takes over international and European relations; Yves Mersch inherits payments and market infrastructure; Vítor Constâncio gets macro-prudential policy
Central Bank of Nicaragua appoints Ovidio Reyes president
General manager was made acting president when Alberto Guevara was stripped of his responsibilities in mid-January, but was only officially appointed on Thursday
Fed 'policy shocks' cause both dollar and foreign interest rates to fall, Boston Fed paper finds
Expansionary monetary policy shocks by the Federal Reserve leads to dollar depreciation, while similar 'unexpected expansionary announcements' by foreign central banks cause it to appreciate
Global lending conditions more connected than ever, says BIS's Turner
Big emerging market corporations are borrowing abroad, while global capital has been flowing into EMs – meaning lending conditions are more strongly connected than before
Bank of Ghana brings forward rate decision as falling currency feeds inflation
The central bank's monetary policy committee will meet tomorrow instead of February 19 following further weakening of the cedi; analysts expect rate increase of at least 100 basis points
RBA changes tune on cash and exchange rates
Reserve Bank of Australia hints at a ‘period of stability’ in interest rates and welcomes the weaker Australian dollar
National Bank of Hungary honours Austrian governor
Ewald Nowotny receives Lamfalussy Award for ‘exceptional international efforts’; associated conference in Budapest features comments from a host of European central bankers
Interest swaps with longer maturities more sensitive to macroeconomic news, DNB paper suggests
The impact in Sweden of macroeconomic news on the sensitivity of interest rate swaps was reduced at the effective zero lower bound at short maturities but not at longer maturities, according to paper
Ben Bernanke joins Brookings; State Bank of Pakistan promotes deputy to acting governor
Bernanke, who left the Federal Reserve on Friday, will engage in ‘research and writing' at the Washington think-tank; State Bank of Pakistan deputy steps up after governor's departure