Central Banks
Bank cuts to 1%, economy in severe downturn
The Bank of England chopped 50 basis points off bank rate on Thursday and stepped up the rhetoric on the scale of the crisis, saying that the global economy was now "in the throes of a severe and synchronised downturn".
Tarp assets too dear
The head of a watchdog charged with overseeing the use of funds allocated to the Troubled Asset Relief Program (Tarp) said on Thursday that the Treasury was overpaying for its investments in banks.
SARB's easing cycle accelerates
The South African Reserve Bank cut its key rate by 100 basis points on Thursday following a 50 basis-point cut in January.
Growth fears outweigh depreciation threat for CNB
The Czech National Bank (CNB) has cut its key interest rate to 1.75%, the lowest level in more than three years, in an attempt to stave off recession despite concerns about koruna's weakening.
Richmond Fed's Charlotte office gets new head
Matthew Martin, an economist at the Richmond Federal Reserve, has been promoted to the role of senior vice president responsible for the Fed's Charlotte branch.
ECB official praises Slovakia's euro entry
The changeover from Slovak koruna to euro, which took place in January, was very smooth, said Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramo, a member of the European Central Bank's Executive Board.
Italy's Draghi - standardisation needed
A move towards the standardisation of financial products in the future is unavoidable, said Mario Draghi, the governor of the Bank of Italy.
Kazakhstan devalues tenge by 18%
The National Bank of Kazakhstan has allowed the tenge's value to fall by almost a fifth against the greenback by substantially devaluing the currency's dollar peg.
SocGen losses cost Central Africa $584m - report
The Bank of Central African States has lost about $584m on investments made through Societe Generale, a bank, a senior official has reportedly said.
UK edges towards bad-bank solution
Britain is considering adopting the bad bank model to buy toxic assets a little over a fortnight after London announced plans to guarantee banks' bad debt.
Norway sees deeper, longer downturn ahead
Norges Bank shaved half a point off its key rate on signs the downturn could be deeper and last longer than previously expected.
Riksbank upgrades payments system
The Riksbank is to move to a new technology system and platform for RIX, the central bank's funds transfer system.
France's Noyer: keep your supervisors close
This crisis has showed the merits of having the banking supervisors close to the central bank, said Christian Noyer, the governor of Banque de France.
Floating rates worth weight in gold for Germany
German society was better off under the floating exchange-rate regime than during the pre-first world war classical gold standard period, finds a paper by Michael Bordo and Bernhard Eschweiler for the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Avoid Dutch disease with deep financial industry
A deep financial industry can reduce the exchange-rate appreciation effect of capital inflows, posits a new paper from the International Monetary Fund.
Social role of banks must change: UK's McFall
John McFall, the head of Britain's influential Treasury Committee, on why finance-industry pay must be curbed, some of the country's biggest banks nationalised and lessons can be learned from abroad
Report cautions on dangers of free capital flows
Dogmatic adherence to the doctrine of free capital flows is misguided and potentially dangerous, a new study from the Committee on the Global Financial System, a collective of central bankers from across the globe, warns.
New Icelandic PM calls for the governors' heads
Iceland's new prime minister has asked the central bank's three governors to step down.
SA's new CPI gauge trims inflation by 0.9pp
The new method of calculating South African headline inflation would have trimmed nine-tenths of a percentage point off the December measure, the government's statistics bureau said on Tuesday.
Australia slashes on signs of flagging demand
The Reserve Bank of Australia cut rates by a full percentage point for the second time in as many votes on Tuesday, saying that a dip in confidence was impacting demand.
Crisis demands a common voice: UK's McFall
John McFall, the chairman of Britain's Treasury Committee, tells CentralBankNews.com why the financial crisis means central bankers will have to change the way they speak.
Riksbank appoints new deputy
Karolina Ekholm, a professor at Stockholm University, is to succeed Irma Rosenberg as deputy governor of the Riksbank.