Central Banks
Basel Committee reveals leverage ratio formula
Proposals detail leverage ratio calculation framework and disclosure requirements that will enter force in 2015; committee keeps options open for a higher leverage ratio than originally planned
Chinese financiers hit out at 'blind' PBoC
China central bank accused of being blind to potential capital market reaction in its attempts to clamp down on the shadow banking sector
Swedish paper finds benefit in increasing lag-length in VARs
Working paper says it is possible to estimate structural vector autoregressions with long lags and still obtain precise structural predictions
Bank of England concerned by ‘vulnerability’ to interest rate increases
Financial Stability Report calls for assessment of financial institutions' exposure to increases in global interest rates; recommends banks are allowed to reduce their liquid asset holdings
Central bank statistics departments facing multiple strains, says ECB’s Schubert
Meeting new monetary, micro-prudential and macro-prudential data requirements is a major burden for central bank statistics departments, says ECB statistics head Aurel Schubert
Cœuré says ECB will not tighten ‘in near future’
ECB executive board member Benoît Cœuré says the prospect of tighter monetary policy in the eurozone remains distant; calls recent bout of market volatility ‘excessive’
King defends Bernanke over communication of Fed policy
Bank of England's Mervyn King says Fed chairman Ben Bernanke could ‘hardly have been clearer’ over future of monetary policy; vents his frustration at slow pace of economic reforms
Stein and Wheatley to head up new FSB benchmarks steering group
Financial Stability Board sets up steering group to improve benchmarks; private sector invited to contribute to the review process
Financial institutions must prepare for higher interest rates, says Carney
Incoming Bank of England governor calls for ‘continued vigilance’ to avoid the financial system being caught out by volatility and interest rate rises caused by an exit from easy monetary policy
Bank of Italy paper finds women directors improve bank governance
Researchers find that women on bank boards tend to reduce the riskiness of investments, which they say is potentially both an argument for greater gender balance and a factor behind discrimination
Switzerland passes Basel III implementation test
Assessment finds country ‘compliant’ overall with Basel III capital framework, although a number of regulations had to be tweaked to make the grade
Bank of Finland paper attempts to isolate European fiscal multipliers
Research seeks to account for effects of policy co-ordination and business cycles to produce more accurate estimates of European fiscal multipliers
Jane Austen ‘quietly waiting in wings’ to feature on UK banknote
Bank of England governor Mervyn King says Jane Austen is a likely candidate to feature on next £10 note; fails to appease concerns over all-male banknote roster
IMF research quantifies distributional damage from fiscal consolidation
Working paper suggests efforts to cut budget deficits in advanced economies have raised inequality, cut the wage income share of GDP and pushed up long-term unemployment
BIS's Caruana wins term extension as Cecchetti prepares to quit Basel
Jaime Caruana to stay at BIS to 2017, but Stephen Cecchetti will leave in November this year; RBA's Debelle and FDIC's Verley take up other Basel posts
ECB’s Asmussen urges greater efforts at global policy co-ordination
Executive board member says globalisation has led to greater interconnectedness and many more sources of risk, but institutions have not kept pace with the demanding environment
QE was ‘a step in the dark’, Rajan tells BIS
Former IMF chief economist says decision to engage in quantitative easing was based on little evidence and influenced by politics, while the full consequences remain unclear
BoE and PBoC open ‘very important’ renminbi swap line
Bank of England and People’s Bank of China establish three-year 200 billion yuan swap line; fourth largest of its kind and first in European Union
Frenkel to rejoin Bank of Israel as Fischer replacement
Former Bank of Israel governor nominated to replace Stanley Fischer; decision surprises some as deputy governor Karnit Flug appeared to have Fischer's backing for the role
PBoC maintains hard line on liquidity
People’s Bank of China insists there is a ‘reasonable’ level of liquidity in financial sector and says commercial banks are responsible for their own levels of reserves
Reserve Bank of Fiji turned to unconventional monetary policy in wake of last year’s ‘devastating’ floods
Central bank forced commercial banks to lend to agriculture and renewable energy sectors; provided funds to affordable housing projects