Central Banks
ECB extends asset purchases to March 2017 or beyond and cuts deposit rate
European Central Bank will continue buying assets until at least March 2017 as part of latest easing package; Draghi describes deposit rate as ‘driver’ of policy as council cuts it to -0.3%
Sarb deputy sees opportunity for reserve managers in Fed hike
Daniel Mminele encourages reserve managers to focus on the ‘investment horizon’ to take advantage of higher yields in the wake of Fed action
Advice can affect clients' mortgage choices, says BIS paper
Banks may ‘steer’ households towards certain mortgage types; distorted information has a stronger affect when prices are not adjusted
Yellen signals growing confidence ahead of Fed decision
Fed chair expects some key headwinds to inflation to diminish next year; continued improvements in labour market and stable expectations help ‘bolster’ her confidence in a return to target
Domestic euro users bear highest shoe leather costs, Bank of Italy paper finds
Euros circulate widely outside the eurozone, transferring some costs to foreigners – but the effect is small relative to the popularity of the euro as a global currency
Turkish MPC has eyes on inflation and loan growth
The monetary policy committee of Turkey’s central bank notes year-on-year inflation fell due to drops in energy and food prices; cautious on currency depreciation and falling loan rates
PBoC deputy governor says reforms will continue beyond SDR inclusion
Yi Gang welcomes IMF decision on SDR, says China will not ease off on reforms; inclusion was seen as inevitable in recent weeks, but Central Banking poll highlights earlier uncertainty
BoJ deputy says underlying inflation has ‘steadily’ improved
Kikuo Iwata says CPI inflation, excluding energy and fresh food, has been making a positive contribution of around 1% recently; discusses latest projections
Bean calls for overhaul of UK statistics
Report dissecting UK statistics production calls for national statistics office to become more agile, make use of new forms of data, and tackle shortcomings
Norges Bank paper proposes linking CCP risk management to capital charges
Author recommends stress tests of CCPs to gauge interconnectedness, and proposes higher capital charges for CCPs with weaker risk management
ECB survey finds ‘access to finance’ least of eurozone SME problems
The European Central Bank’s survey of eurozone enterprises finds deleveraging is continuing at a slow pace while few firms rate lack of access to finance as their major problem
‘Gradual and low’ may be new normal for Fed, Brainard says
Lael Brainard says lower neutral interest rates and stubborn inflation make it likely the federal funds rate will need to be tightened ‘more gradually and to a lower level’ than in the past
IMF reveals weights of new SDR basket
Renminbi to account for 10.92% of basket from its inclusion next year; executive board approves change in formula
South African review charts motivations behind resumption of tightening cycle
One of three chief considerations was the path of exchange rate and the risks it posed to inflation, which increased as the year went on
Irish central bank will persist with housing measures despite public dissent
Chief economist of Ireland’s central bank says it will continue with macro-prudential measures despite public criticism; academic says measures will help slow prices but are ‘insufficient’
Historical data supports fiscal theory of the price level, Bundesbank paper argues
Data from the US, Germany and Italy give policy-makers useful data on the long-term influence of fiscal policy on inflation, a Bundesbank discussion paper argues
Peer-monitoring can help identify ‘distressed’ financial institutions, paper says
Colombian working paper presents early warning system which looks at the liquidity price market participants charge one another
BoE plans capital framework redesign
The central bank hopes the realignment of capital requirements from individual banks to a system-wide buffer will simplify the framework and allow the FPC to respond to threats earlier
Rajan weighs currency movements while RBI holds rates
Governor Raghuram Rajan spells out challenges posed by divergence of dollar and euro in press conference after Reserve Bank of India keeps key rate at 6.75%
Two UK banks fall short in BoE stress tests
RBS and Standard Chartered pass 'hurdle' rates but fall short on other capital requirements in 2015 Bank of England stress test; tests redesigned since 2014