Central Banks
Fed's Plosser dissents over unchanged forward guidance in face of US 'rebound'
Janet Yellen sees second dissent since taking the Federal Reserve chair in January; FOMC language suggests members are becoming more sanguine about economic trajectory
Nigeria SWF to manage $350m for national electricity buyer
Finance minister backs deal, saying Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority will deliver a better return than the central bank
IMF endorses Japan's QQE despite slowing progress to 2% inflation target
IMF says Bank of Japan does not need to intensify its QQE programme ‘at this point’, though BoJ policy-maker Kiuchi says 2% inflation may need to be a 'long-term' goal
BoE working group finds ‘striking' changes in investment behaviour by insurers and pension funds
Nature of investments has changed markedly over the past 15 years, says Andrew Haldane-led group, which also includes Oxford professor Ian Goldin and Jim O'Neill
SNB reports profit of almost $18bn for first half of the year
Swiss National Bank recovers from $10bn loss in 2013; profit on foreign currency positions amounts to Sfr 12.6bn, while gold holdings see Sfr 3.5bn valuation gain
Central Bank of Brazil yet to see effects of tightening cycle
Inflation 'still shows resistance', July minutes note; bank lowered reserve requirements for lenders last week in bid to inject additional liquidity into Brazilian economy
BIS paper with New York Fed unveils new measure of underlying inflation
Economists from the Bank for International Settlements and Federal Reserve Bank of New York present a new measure that can be updated on a daily basis
Reza Moghadam quits IMF to join Morgan Stanley in London
IMF's Europe chief to 'return home' after 22 years with the Fund, lately ‘spearheading the Fund's response from one crisis to the next'; Thomsen promoted on an interim basis
Central Bank of Nigeria inks deal to set up credit fund for small businesses
Governor Godwin Emefiele signs MoU with state governments on $1.4 billion fund to lower lending rates for SMEs, but critics call for speedier remedies
Atiur Rahman demands authorities tackle maturity mismatch in financial sector
Bangladesh Bank governor encourages long-term saving through life insurers and pension funds, in an attempt to generate more housing and infrastructure financing; also supports market development
Eurozone banks ease credit standards for first time since crisis hit in 2007
ECB bank lending survey shows that more banks eased credit standards than tightened them in second quarter of 2014
Bank of Russia ready to act to cushion bank sanctions blow
US and EU sanctions are aimed at state-owned banks and could cover central bank-owned Sberbank - but sanctioning the Bank of Russia itself remains unthinkable
HKMA chief rejects use of $400bn fund for social purposes
Norman Chan says the HKMA’s exchange fund is the ‘last line of defence’ for financial stability and should be maintained as a buffer against ‘unforeseeable shocks and crises’
Bank of England unveils plans to lock up bankers' bonuses for seven years
New rule will mean financial sector bonuses can be 'clawed back' for up to seven years, but the BoE is also proposing bonuses are locked up until that period expires
IMF warns monetary tightening could hit EM growth
Advanced economies should collaborate with emerging markets, Fund says, to mitigate spillover effects of monetary tightening; says global imbalances remain too high
Spanish economists see short-run benefits in structural reforms
Working paper published by Bank of Spain says product and labour market reforms could boost output and employment now and in the future
Italy's Visco calls for more 'symmetric' monetary policy
Central banks should be prepared to tighten policy pre-emptively, Ignazio Visco writes in forthcoming Central Banking journal, in order to head off financial crisis
Hong Kong and Thailand link settlement systems
New link will ensure the simultaneous delivery of US Dollars in Hong Kong and Thai Baht in Thailand; HKMA’s Peter Pang says it creates a ‘safer’ environment for settling forex transactions
Senior deputy at Bank Indonesia handed five-year term
The decision to retain Mirza Adityaswara should provide some stability to the board of governors, after a turbulent 2013 saw two-thirds of its members replaced
Kuroda says ‘prompt action’ needed to address impact of demographic changes
Bank of Japan governor tells Asian policy-makers to face up to the problems created by a shrinking working age population ‘at an early stage’
Cross-border vulnerabilities should be taken more seriously, IMF paper says
Working paper says funding vulnerabilities ‘have real effects', although they have declined since the crisis due to lower exposures and increased capital levels
Credit cards account for more than half of all payment cards in the US, report shows
Credit cards accounted for 334 million of the 776 million ‘general purpose cards' used in 2012; Over 250 million mobile payments made using mobile wallet application, Fed study finds
Central Bank of Brazil lowers bank reserve requirements in bid to boost liquidity
Reserves held against deposits cut in half as CBB hopes to inject $20 billion into economy; move ‘seems to be aimed squarely at getting economy going ahead of elections', says analyst