Central Banks
Central Bank of Brazil says ‘intensification’ in pace of monetary easing might be warranted
Some members of the committee said there could be room for a larger rate cut, minutes show; slowdown in inflation and implementation of government fiscal policies prompted 25bp cut
UK’s PSR announces shake-up in provision of payment services
UK’s payment system regulator to open door to competition in national payment infrastructure; regulator sees benefits to Mastercard’s planned takeover of Vocalink
Patel defends approach to banknote crisis, as RBI holds
Governor offers some clarity on progress with note withdrawals and question of “extinguishing” parts of balance sheet; rate hold surprises market
St Louis Fed president may support rate increase
Bullard cautions future real interest rates likely to stay flat; says Trump administration can only alter low interest rate environment by improving productivity
BIS paper identifies spillovers from targeted macro-prudential policies
Applying tools narrowly to a sector may nevertheless affect other sections of the financial system, authors find
People: Senate approves new Mexican deputy; Lagarde appoints Jihad Azour
Former head of finance ministry’s debt office to take on senior role at Bank of Mexico; Azour joins IMF team, leaving Lebanon’s finance ministry; and more
Dombret paints gloomy picture of low rates’ impact on banks
Bundesbank board member spells out risks associated with low interest rate environment, noting banks are more likely to take risky assets onto their books the longer it prevails
Ukraine’s central bank calls for action against illegal forex dealers
NBU says authorities failed to act against 32 illegal operations in Kyiv; says it will publicise further information on unauthorised forex dealers
BoE’s Hauser praises plan for integrated retail payments scheme
Faster Payments, Bacs and Cheque Clearing to be integrated into one system, Hauser says; ISO20022 to make interbank payments “much easier” for the UK
Changing policy impact may knock forecasts askew – Riksbank economists
Economists suggest systematic errors of forecasts in recent years may reflect changes in the effectiveness of monetary policy
Federal Reserve conducts in-depth study into distributed ledger technology
Central bank publishes first paper discussing the benefits of distributed ledger technology in the realm of payments, and clearing and settlement; use of DLT could address “financial frictions”
Spanish paper looks at eurozone inflation expectations
Pan-eurozone factors are more important than country-specific forces, paper says
Route ahead unclear for Italian banks
At least one bank faces major loan book problems; European law may present difficulties with recapitalisation and “bad banks”
Carney hits back at critics of monetary policy’s distributional impact
Monetary easing has disproportionately benefited the poor, BoE governor says; loss of open markets “would be a tragedy, but is a possibility”
Ingves: internal modelling may create too much complexity
Basel Committee chair says complexity created by internal modelling has a range of adverse effects, though more research is needed
Tajik central bank launches consumer protection push
Plan could create stability and growth if it is successful, but resource constraints are a challenge, National Bank of Tajikistan says
Should banks hold cocos or other kinds of buffers?
Richard Heckinger examines the merits of contingent convertible bonds vs other instruments for meeting regulatory requirements
Malawi governor announces plans for central depository system
New system will provide security for transactions taking place in the market, Chuka says; governor hopes project will increase market liquidity in the long run
Venezuela central bank launches new banknotes amid soaring inflation
The bolivar has weakened to unprecedented levels as inflation soars and political instability engulfs the nation; new note series’ highest denomination is 200 times larger than current highest
BoE unveils database of macro-prudential policies
Researchers attempt to classify the myriad forms of macro-prudential policy, compiling panel data on when policies were tightened and loosened in different countries
Singapore fines two foreign banks for 1MDB-related breaches
Investigations continuing into Goldman Sachs’ role, the regulator says
French paper presents macro-prudential early warning system
Authors advocate aggregating results of larger number of models
Bank of Korea embarks on ‘coinless society’ project
Central bank wants to eradicate use of coins by 2020; first stage of the project to use electronic travel passes to pay for goods and services