Central Banks
Central banks ‘are not done easing yet’, says Morgan Stanley chief economist
US investment bank’s Joachim Fels says central banks are entering into a third stage of monetary easing; eurozone growth forecast cut to -0.7%
Gold should dominate RMB in central bank reserves, says WGC
World Gold Council encourages central banks – particularly in emerging market economies – to diversify into gold ahead of RMB and other ‘alternative’ currencies
Basel Committee will assess whether capital rules need simplifying
Stefan Ingves, chairman of the Basel Committee, says simplicity is "desirable" but it is too soon to judge whether capital rules are overly complex
Dutch central bank paper examines impact of capital controls on currency crises
Study finds lower capital controls reduce the probability of a currency crisis, particularly in advanced economies where there is greater institutional development
Bundesbank paper raises concerns over accuracy of systemic risk measures
Researchers find market-based systemic risk measures may give a façade of safety even as banks enter ‘major tail risks’
Putin picks economic adviser as Bank of Russia chief
Elvira Nabiullina nominated to succeed Sergey Ignatiev as chairman of the Bank of Russia; faces challenge of maintaining monetary policy credibility despite close ties to the Kremlin
Bank of Japan derivatives purchases threaten already low equity ratio
The BoJ's latest inflation-targeting weapon could challenge its balance sheet strength
UK gears up to new era of prudential regulation
The UK will adopt ‘twin peaks’ supervision in April in a bid to restore integrity to its financial system. Chris Jeffery talks to the Bank of England’s Sarah Breeden about the challenges ahead
Bundesbank turns €664 million profit in 2012
Deutsche Bundesbank profit increases by €21 million from 2011; Jens Weidmann says increase in the central bank’s risk provisions limited return
Goodhart argues bail-outs are better than bail-ins
LSE panel highlights unintended consequences of new regulation, in areas including bail-ins, capital requirements and banking separation; Charles Goodhart says investors will not buy bail-inable debt
BoJ unveils policy for oversight of market infrastructure
The Bank of Japan reveals new policy for its oversight of payment and settlement systems and CCPs; mainly concerned with mitigating systemic risk
Riksbank’s payment system restored after technical failure
Sweden’s large-value payments system, RIX, restored to full functionality after failing to start yesterday afternoon. But cause of disruption still unknown
Italy’s Visco concerned by ‘blind backlash’ against financial firms
Bank of Italy governor issues reminder that finance does bring some benefits, but says pre-crisis ‘benign neglect’ by regulators was foolish
T2S programme hit by delays with costs set to soar
Europe’s new securities settlement system, Target2-Securities, faces tough implementation schedule, say Clearstream and Euroclear officials; ECB reaffirms commitment to price plan and timescale
Bank of Finland highlights ‘astonishing’ lack of information on Chinese government debt
Researcher warns opaque debt statistics are to China’s detriment and could threaten renminbi internationalisation; urges government to begin politically difficult process of improving transparency
Constâncio identifies benefits of banking union to non-members
ECB vice-president says European countries outside the new SSM will benefit from an enhanced banking union; stresses value of increased financing to real economies
BoJ changes represent the death knell for central bank independence
The growing policy crisis caused by central banks taking on roles beyond price stability and lender of last resort is not down to 'independence' – as the BoJ case points out
ECB’s LTROs contribute to 12% drop in repo transactions
Icma report warns ‘abundant’ liquidity provided by ECB’s long-term refinancing operations is undermining the repo market in Europe; notes signs of increased risk appetite
UK Banking Commission urges higher leverage ratio
Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards says 3% leverage ratio prescribed by Basel III and planned UK rules is insufficient for banks; also advocates power to impose full separation of banking sector
Vietnam central bank needs clearer mandate not independence
The Vietnamese government should worry less about meeting calls for more legal independence for the State Bank of Vietnam and think more about relieving the central bank from some of its wide-reaching responsibilities, says new Central Banking Journal…
Irish paper finds more spending could help government’s ‘precarious’ finances
Central Bank of Ireland research technical paper suggests country’s close sovereign-bank link means government spending to reduce mortgage arrears will have a greater effect than previously thought
IMF paper advocates hybrid discretion and rules-based macro-prudential policy
Researchers say discretionary systems can be gamed but rules struggle to properly account for risk; combination of ‘strong baseline’ and time-varying component gives best results
RBI governor defends 3% inflation target
Duvvuri Subbarao says India’s high inflation in recent years does not represent a ‘new normal’; rejects upping the central bank’s 3% target