Central Banks
IMF expands lending rules around countries in arrears
Fund announces new approach to lending to countries in arrears with official creditors, moving away from focus on Paris Club agreements
Paper uses Okun’s Law to assess Australian potential output
Discussion paper published by Reserve Bank of Australia estimates potential output growth has fallen from around 5% in the 1970s to 2.9% now
TCH and VocaLink set sights on US real-time payments
CEOs emphasise effort to create level playing field for 14,000 US financial institutions to access the system, as the firms finalise real-time payments deal
Spanish paper offers guide to using BIS data
A paper published by the Bank of Spain offers an introduction to the statistical data on international banking published by the BIS
Argentine governor resigns following criticism by new president
The governor of the Central Bank of Argentina resigns ahead of the inauguration of Mauricio Macri as president; likely to be succeeded by nominee Federico Sturzenegger
Sovereign money a ‘risky experiment’ says SNB’s Jordan
Thomas Jordan says sovereign money initiative looking to strip banks of ability to create money would ‘entail a radical overhaul of Switzerland’s financial system’; SNB holds rates
RBNZ cuts rates for fourth time this year
Central bank resumes easing policy and lowers OCR by 25bp to 2.5%; expects inflation to move towards target range in early 2016
Bank of Canada adds negative rates to toolkit
Central bank publishes new framework for monetary policy when interest rates are approaching zero, suggesting the overnight rate could be cut as low as -0.5%
Modern central banks need big data strategy, Riksbank economists say
Central banks need to adapt to growing data volumes, but the organisational changes required could help departments work together more closely, economists say
Turkish economy is braced for impact of global policy normalisation, says Başçı
Erdem Başçı says measures taken to date have made Turkish economy more resilient to external shocks; expects inflation to trend down towards target next year after rough 2015
Forecasters expected ‘significant’ drop in bond yields in wake of Fed easing, paper finds
Staff report published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York examines how professional forecasters revised their predictions in aftermath of Fed decisions
Tucker to succeed Bair as Systemic Risk Council chair
Ex-Bank of England deputy governor Paul Tucker to chair private sector group pushing for ‘strong and simple reforms’ to financial system; succeeds former FDIC chair Sheila Bair
Irish economy improving but still vulnerable to shocks, central bank warns
Ireland’s economic outlook improved during the second half of the year, but the country is still vulnerable to financial shocks, says the Central Bank of Ireland in its latest macro-financial review
Eurozone QE ‘much needed’ but not enough for growth, Greek deputy says
Bank of Greece deputy governor Iannis Mourmouras praises ECB programme but suggests more measures needed from elsewhere; criticises poor sequencing of structural reforms in past
PBoC confirms Korea on track to issue first sovereign 'panda bond'
Korean government authorised to raise 3bn yuan in interbank market, China's central bank confirms; Seoul reportedly marketing bond during China roadshow this week
Bernanke and Trichet join Pimco global advisory board
Global investment management firm compiles new global advisory board from leaders in the world of economic and political policy
Dynamics and volatility of capital flows a concern, says Mexican deputy
Manuel Ramos-Francia says EM policy-makers are concerned not only with the size of capital outflows, but also the dynamics of those flows, at conference hosted by Bank of Mexico
Central Bank of Armenia says currency turbulence has raised credit risks
Financial stability report says economy has been affected by sharp depreciation of the dram, worsening credit risk as many loans are denominated in US dollars
EU survey calls for more cohesion on cloud computing
There appears to be a lack of clear and formal guidance from financial supervisors on banks’ use of cloud-based IT services, while their use is underestimated, an EU agency says
Banks may need major overhaul to handle new disclosures, FSB task force says
Many banks will need to make ‘substantial changes’ to systems and processes to cope with new and more complex standards on accounting for expected credit losses, report finds