Central Banks
Rohde criticises Italy's calls for BRRD special treatment
Danish governor believes the forceful implementation of Europe’s new bank resolution rules represents a “game-changer”; laments Basel’s shift from risk-based regulation
French central bank reveals details of blockchain experiment
Banque de France teams up with a fintech start-up to run distributed ledger tech through Sepa; the results of project expected to be presented at a conference in 2017
FSB: Japan should strengthen financial stability framework
Latest peer review says Japan has work to do in improving the macro-prudential framework and clarifying approach to resolution
Polymer banknote provider Innovia bought for $845 million
Innovia bought by Canadian competitor following a “successful” year; CCL to build on the polymer provider's expertise in the field
Yellen underlines the importance of education for the economy
Globalisation and technology are driving the demand for educated workers, Fed chair says, emphasising the important role education has to play in the evolving US economy
Paper uses Swedish refugee data to assess financial literacy
Authors say the randomly determined placement of refugees in Sweden provides a handy natural experiment on how financial literacy can spread
BoE paper experiments with measuring vulnerabilities
The study finds the US had highest levels of vulnerability in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis, with Asia and Europe appearing “robust”; the picture has now reversed, authors say
European agencies see pitfalls in growing big data use
Financial products likely to become more tailored to consumers, but that will not benefit everyone, regulators warn
Venezuela’s Maduro backtracks on bolivar withdrawal
Venezuelan currency crisis continues with delay of new series and re-integration of 100 bolivar note, as president blames “international sabotage”
Yen weakness brings relief for Bank of Japan
Policy on hold, but central bank sees brighter outlook for 2017; yen close to lowest level this year, following Trump shock
IMF board backs Lagarde after negligence verdict
Executive board affirms “full confidence” in managing director after French court hands down negligence verdict, but chooses not to impose punishment
Ukraine nationalises country’s largest bank
Gontareva says PrivatBank failed repeatedly to take necessary action, and so will be transferred into public ownership; central bank creates emergency liquidity facility
African central banks have cut euro exposures, says Uganda’s Kavuma
Combination of negative interest rates and falling reserves hit euro holdings but most central banks still avoid investments within Africa
Lagarde guilty of negligence, court rules
IMF chief found guilty of negligence but is not punished; verdict may call into question her future at the fund
ECB bulletin emphasises importance of monitoring uncertainty
Increases in uncertainty adversely impact the economy, research says, encouraging policymakers to introduce measures to mitigate its impact
People: Slovenia gets new deputy; ECB appoints new member to financial stability council
Slovenian parliament appoints new deputy to central bank; ECB chooses Finnish deputy governor to sit on financial stability council
BIS’s Caruana: fiscal space is ‘slippery’
Fiscal authorities should not overestimate the available room for manoeuvre, as less obvious factors may pose constraints, BIS chief says
Adopting inflation target can create higher inflation – paper
Bank of Korea working paper finds positive relationship between inflation target and inflation, implying some central banks may be tempted to move the goalposts
SNB ups allocation to currency reserves
New rule allows for higher allocations to reserves provision even in periods of low nominal growth; foreign exchange intervention now a key monetary tool
BoE article sees benefits to agent-based modelling
“Bottom-up” approach is complementary to models that are already widely used; the Bank of England has created new models for both housing and corporate bond markets
US and EU outline final rules on loss-absorbency
Fed adopts final rule on loss-absorbency, while EBA makes final recommendations to European Commission; US rules include grandfathering and exceptions for foreign firms
2016 sees major change among central bank governors
Double the number of new governors were appointed in 2016 compared with 2015, latest Central Bank Directory shows; global staff numbers plateaued in 2015 and reversed this year