Central Banks
Central banks report high levels of independence
Institutions across regions and income groups report significant autonomy from political interference
Rehn: ‘Last thing we need is a trade war between allies’
Bank of Finland governor criticises Trump administration’s tariffs and “appeasement” of Russia
OCC withdraws climate risk principles for largest banks
Acting comptroller calls principles overly burdensome and duplicative
US monetary policy affects income inequality – Fed research
Surprise rate hikes affect lowest paid, authors find
Kganyago continues push to lower Sarb inflation target
Economists back South Africa’s central bank governor, but finance minister remains sceptical
Australia moves forward with ‘ample reserves’ framework
RBA raises price of short-term repo and encourages lenders to recycle liquidity in private markets
Ethiopia to conduct FX auctions every two weeks
NBE says move will help it achieve policy objectives as it looks to lower inflation to single digits
Salary still poses greatest challenge for recruitment
Staff morale constitutes lowest constraint but is a concern for some central banks
Bosnia and Herzegovina makes U-turn on gold – report
CBBH bought two tonnes in 2024, having sold 1.5 tonnes in 2023
Colombia holds rates amid government pressure for cuts
Banrep board divided after three new members join; country’s president says decision “unacceptable”
Israeli banks disburse benefits to customers affected by war
Central bank directs lenders to provide 3 billion shekels in relief over two years
Legal framework key to keeping money’s singleness – study
Interoperable blockchain payment systems could present challenges, say NY Fed researchers
RBNZ opens payment system to non-banks
Second phase will accept applications from payment service providers and overseas deposit-takers
ECB ‘assessing’ bilateral link to India’s UPI – Cipollone
Board member says US promotion of stablecoins presents real risks for EM central banks
Over 40% of central banks lack formal recapitalisation agreement
Ten banks were recapitalised in the past year
Vector-based language model can improve forecasts – BIS paper
“Word embeddings” can be used to make better inflation predictions, authors find
BoE proposes raising deposit insurance limit
Central bank suggests increasing level of savings protection to account for inflation since 2017
New Zealand to review banks’ capital requirements
RBNZ to consult “international experts” as lenders demand looser prudential treatment
Ghana raises rates to 28% despite fall in inflation
Central bank also points to credit risks in banking sector
Some central banks report pressure to change monetary policy
Central banks mention financial and political factors impacting independence