Central Banks
EU open to sovereign wealth funds
Europe is, and wants to remain, open to sovereign wealth fund investments, said David Wright, a deputy director general, DG internal markets and services, at the European Commission.
Kenya calls on bankers to disclose loan costs
The Central Bank of Kenya is to ask banks to provide a greater deal of clarity on borrowing costs.
Israel puts plastic notes into circulation
The Bank of Israel on Sunday introduced its first polymer banknote.
Factory-gate inflation rise compounds BoE's woe
Producer prices in the UK leapt to 6.2% for the year to March, the highest rate since 1991.
Eurozone must avoid price spiral: France's Noyer
Christian Noyer, the governor of Banque de France, warned policymakers that the current wave of above-target inflation must not lead to a price and wage spiral.
Policy stance remains appropriate: BoJ minutes
Japanese policymakers remain keen to raise rates in spite of a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy, minutes of the March Monetary Policy Council meeting reveal.
BoE on how to reduce systemic risk
The Bank of England has published a paper looking at how the structure of financial systems affects systemic risk.
Bank of Canada on housing market volatility
Better access to global financial markets exacerbates the peaks and troughs of business cycles for the housing industry, research published by the Bank of Canada shows.
Serbia's Jelasic praises SEPA
The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), a eurozone-wide payments initiative, is an excellent example of how technology can be used to facilitate development of the financial sector, said Radovan Jelasic, the governor of the National Bank of Serbia.
SA's Mboweni braves political pressure, hikes rate
Tito Mboweni, the governor of the South African Reserve Bank, reaffirmed his commitment to the central bank's inflation target on Thursday, raising rates by half a point to 11.5% in the face of intense political pressure.
Crisis "nothing like" Great Depression: Bernanke
Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve and a scholar on the Great Depression, has rebuked suggestions that the current financial climate is similar to that of the 1930s.
Iceland raises rates again
The Central Bank of Iceland hiked rates by half a point on Thursday. The move follows an emergency 125 basis point rise a fortnight ago.
Prague backs CNB on move to halt koruna's rise
The Czech government will divert its foreign exchange income from currency markets, on the advice of the country's central bank, which is keen to temper the appreciation of the koruna.
Peru unexpectedly raises rates
The Central Bank of Peru surprised markets on Thursday by backing a 25 basis-point hike and raising the reserve requirement for foreign and domestic currency holdings.
Canada monitoring credit conditions
The Bank of Canada is looking at the impact of the unusually wide credit spreads, prevalent in the country's money markets since the summer, on financial stability, inflation and monetary policy, said David Longworth, a deputy governor at the central…
Payments industry lacks competition
If we want to speed up the development in payment services, we need to increase competition in the market, said Erkki Liikanen, the governor of the Bank of Finland.
Indonesian governor detained
Burhanuddin Abdullah, the governor of Bank Indonesia, has been detained at police headquarters by the country's anti-corruption agency, Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK), a day after parliament approved economics minister Boediono as the next central…
Old Lady lowers rates to 5%
The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) cut rates by a quarter point to 5% on Thursday.
Trichet indicates rates to remain at 4%
Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), signalled that the Governing Council will leave rates unchanged for the foreseeable future despite mounting evidence that the credit crunch could severely impact the real economy.
British banks want to borrow more
UK banks have asked for a sharp increase in their borrowing facilities at the Bank of England, the Financial Times has reported.
IMF puts subprime losses at $945 billion
Estimates of the size of losses on subprime mortgages and related forms of lending just get uglier and uglier. The latest estimate, presented by the International Monetary Fund in its Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR), puts losses at a staggering …
Stalemate ends as Shirakawa is approved
Masaaki Shirakawa is the new governor of the Bank of Japan after the opposition Democratic Party of Japan accepted his nomination on Wednesday, ending a political standoff that has embarrassed both the central bank and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Fed minutes point to moderate easing
The latest Federal Reserve minutes suggest that the period of rapid monetary policy easing that started in late January may be over and could be replaced by a return to a more conventional, gradualist approach.
Thailand leaves rates on hold
The Bank of Thailand has kept rates at 3.25% for the sixth straight vote.