Central Banks
Sovereign investor of the year: Norges Bank Investment Management
The manager of the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund offers ever greater levels of transparency coupled with enviable returns with its strategy to diversify into real estate is paying dividends
Asset manager of the year: BlackRock
BlackRock’s cohesive framework, combined with unrivalled geographic, asset class and investment-style capabilities, enable it to remain the pre-eminent asset manager for sovereign institutions
Foreign exchange dealer of the year: Standard Chartered Bank
The emerging markets specialist has played a pivotal role in assisting central banks and sovereign funds to diversify their holdings into emerging market currencies
Global custodian of the year: State Street
Servicing a diverse set of clients on multiple continents, State Street’s capabilities were amply demonstrated by its win of the National Pension Service equities custody mandate in South Korea
Payments and market infrastructure provider of the year: Eurex Clearing
The German company is driving efforts to help the derivatives industry meet new regulatory requirements, while also improving cross-margining services and bolstering its risk management capabilities
Technology provider of the year: Polaris
The Indian technology company’s flexible platform can be tailored to a remarkable range of operations, including helping central banks such as the RBI to upgrade and automate core banking systems
Consultancy and advisory services provider of the year: SkySparc
Skysparc has helped to test and upgrade treasury management systems at major European central banks, proving instrumental in helping tackle growing volumes of securities transactions and cashflows
Banknote and currency services provider of the year: Innovia Security
A consistent, collaborative approach in a wide range of countries, including Canada and the UK, has enabled the polymer pioneer to stay ahead of its peers on banknote service provision
Belarus central bank hikes key rate by 500bp
National Bank of the Republic of Belarus announces raft of measures to stabilise country's exchange rate; increases policy rate and reinstates currency basket peg
BoJ paper outlines enhancements to flow of funds data
Review paper details improvements to flow of funds accounts statistics in Japan introduced since the global financial crisis, and identifies a number of trends that have emerged
PBoC to accelerate reform process in 2015
Chinese central bank signals more financial reforms and a faster opening of financial markets in 2015; focus on ‘prudent’ monetary policy but more stimulus a possibility
Sri Lanka governor tenders resignation after new president sworn in
Ajith Nivard Cabraal announces wish to step down midway through term following ‘shock' elections; deputy says reason is to avoid 'conflicts' with finance ministry
Central bank expects Serbian FX market to stabilise
National Bank of Serbia reveals it sold €1.8 billion and bought €260 million at various points last year in an attempt to ‘ease short-term volatility’ in exchange rate
FOMC member says ‘very low' inflation provides ‘ample justification' for patience on rate hike
Eric Rosengren highlights ‘unusual set of conditions' as Fed looks to normalise policy stance; says low inflation globally may prompt an atypically gradual normalisation process
Reserve managers shun the euro, IMF data shows
International Monetary Fund data from the third quarter of 2014 shows a significant hit to euro reserves following negative interest rates
SNB expects profit of $39 billion for 2014
Foreign currency positions responsible for most of the profit for Swiss National Bank, which increased its forex reserves by 7% in December following exchange rate pressure
DNB bulletin: International cooperation ‘essential’ over cyber threats
Latest bulletin from The Netherlands Bank encourages both financial institutions and national authorities to collaborate more in bolstering defences against attacks
Central Bank of Venezuela grants exchange rate boost to state oil company
Venezuela's state-owned oil company can now sell its dollars from certain export contracts at the highest exchange rate in the country; president hints at exchange rate reform
Belgian paper examines impact of unit labour costs on exports
Working paper results imply a 10% increase in unit labour costs leads to drop in exports of between 2% and 4%, based on data from 1999 to 2010
Riksbank ready to launch new measures ‘at short notice'
Swedish central bank prepared to launch unconventional measures in February, minutes reveal; board member says currency interventions inappropriate as other countries struggle
Uruguay central bank president replaced with predecessor after one year in job
Mario Bergara handed second term as central bank president; he first held the post between 2008 and 2013 and replaces Graña after just a year in the job