Central Banks
PBOC - China Payment System Development Report
Payment services tended to be diversified and increasingly market-oriented in 2007, notes the latest China Payment System Development Report from the People's Bank of China.
China stockpiling gold
China has increased its gold reserves by 76% since 2003, said Hu Xiaolian, a vice president of People's Bank of China and the administrator of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, on Friday.
Markets bought Paulson "teaser freezer" plan
Research from the Richmond Federal Reserve shows that investors were initially optimistic that former US Treasury secretary Hank Paulson's so-called "teaser freezer" plan would improve economic conditions.
Denmark's Bernstein admits options running out
Nils Bernstein, the governor of the National Bank of Denmark, has acknowledged that the central bank is running out of room to manoeuvre.
Indian cut smaller than expected
The Reserve Bank of India cut interest rates by a quarter point on Tuesday, less than many observers had been predicting.
Icelandic rate setters divided on April cut
Iceland monetary-policy makers voted four to one to cut rates by 150 basis points, minutes of the April meeting revealed.
Bernanke, Paulson forced Merill deal: BoA chief
Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Hank Paulson, a former US treasury secretary, have been accused of pressurising Bank of America to go ahead with their takeover of investment bank Merrill Lynch after they attempted to back out of…
No link between loan constraints and productivity
Financial constraints do not lower productivity in most sectors of the economy, research from the International Monetary Fund suggests.
Monetary policy in turbulent times
The global financial crisis has hit the British economy hard, but this does not mean monetary policy should change its focus, said Andrew Sentance, a member of the Bank of England's rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee.
Eddie George on independence and supervision
In 2000, Sir Eddie George, the former governor of the Bank of England who died at the weekend, spoke on the Bank's then new-found independence and the loss of its supervisory function
Crisis revealed SNB rate policy strength: Roth
The Swiss National Bank's (SNB) unique monetary policy proved useful in staving off a worsening of credit conditions in the wake of the financial crisis, Jean-Pierre Roth, the chairman of the central bank's governing board, has said.
Toxic assets must be removed: RBA's Stevens
Siphoning the toxic assets that plague banks' balance sheets is the first step in overcoming the current crisis, Glenn Stevens, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, has said.
Colombia requests "insurance" credit line from IMF
Colombia became the second Latin American country this year to ask for a credit line from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), when it requested $10.4 billion to help it withstand the global financial crisis.
Zimbabwe "raided private bank accounts
Gideon Gono, governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the country's central bank, admitted on 20 April that he took hard currency from the bank accounts of private businesses and foreign aid groups without authorisation, in efforts to keep the country's…
Sweden cuts rates to record 0.5%
The Riksbank cut its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point to an all-time low of 0.5% on 21 April.
European housing finance more resilient
Housing-finance markets in the euro area are more resilient to shocks their British and American counterparts, new research from the European Central Bank posits.
Albania's Ibrahimi: euro liquidity crucial
It is important that a reasonable flow of euros from banking groups' headquarters to their foreign subsidiaries is maintained, said Fatos Ibrahimi, the first deputy governor of the Bank of Albania.
Lord George, former Bank governor, dies
Eddie George, governor of the Bank of England from 1993 to 2003, died of cancer Saturday, aged 70.
Mexico cuts despite above-target inflation
The Bank of Mexico cited its growing concern about the extent of the slowdown in the national economy as the reasons for a deeper than anticipated cut in interest rates last Friday.
Spain's governor feels the heat
Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, deputy head of Spain's Socialist government has criticised the governor of the central bank, Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez, for being "alarmist" about the state of financing of the country's pension system.
Inflation is not forgotten - ECB's Trichet
Speaking in Tokyo, the president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, stressed the need to keep a watchful eye on inflation.
SF Fed's Yellen: rates may have to burst bubbles
Janet Yellen, the president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve, has acknowledged that rate hikes may be necessary to counter asset-price bubbles, challenging a central tenet of the Greenspan-era Fed and her own previously-held views.
A new method for evaluating risk aversion
Researchers from the European Central Bank have uncovered a new method of extracting time-varying risk aversion from asset prices.