Central Banks
Europe card fraud up after five-year decline, ECB data show
Growth in online shopping blamed for increase in card payments fraud, which totalled €1.33 billion within the Single Euro Payments Area in 2012 - up 21% on the previous year
Pope to set up Vatican central bank
Vatican City set to establish its own central bank as Pope Francis looks to overhaul a financial system that has suffered accusations of corruption
Norges Bank review calls on MPC to relinquish control of wealth fund
Annual report published today raises ‘serious concern' over monetary policy committee's capacity to oversee $830 billion wealth fund with most members having other full-time jobs
Fed transcripts reveal origins of modern forward guidance
Transcripts from the FOMC’s meetings in 2008 reveal the considerations that informed forward guidance at the time and continue to influence central banks’ communication policy today
Cold comfort for Icesave guarantors
Putative Icelandic government demands on the Landsbanki insolvency estate likely behind UK and Dutch lawsuits
Ukraine appoints revolutionary leader to head up central bank
Stepan Kubiv, deputy chairman of Ukraine parliament's banking and finance committee, will take over at the central bank having ‘administered' the protests that toppled the regime
Sweden mulls tighter rules on wholesale forex funding
Group comprising top-ranking decision-makers, including Riksbank governor Stefan Ingves and the minister of financial markets, highlights ‘big risk’ of foreign wholesale funding
Financial market fragility might be down to 'poor policies', says Lacker
Stylised and abstract economic models used to 'justify' Fed intervention during the financial crisis may not have received enough discussion, Richmond Fed president argues
Fed floats ‘advanced approach' for calculating risk weights
Biggest US banks will use new approach to calculate risk-based capital ratios from Q2 2014; changes to stress-test procedures pushed back a year to October 2015
Sepa obstacles have 'not evaporated completely’, warns Finland paper
Bank of Finland researcher finds the advent of the Single Euro Payments Area has not removed all of the barriers to ‘a true domestic products and services market’
G-20 pledge signposts en route to 'normal' monetary policy
Central bank governors and finance ministers in the world's biggest economies promise to be ‘mindful of impacts on the global economy' as they exit unconventional monetary policy
Singapore unveils faster payments service
The Association of Banks in Singapore says ‘almost immediate’ payments service for interbank transfers will launch in the middle of the year
Australia, Korea strike $5 billion swap deal
Glenn Stevens and Choong Soo Kim sign the countries’ first swap arrangement on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting as they look to promote bilateral trade
Saudi inflation expected to fall below 3% in 2014
Country's cost of living index peaked at 4% last April before inflationary pressures in the transport and restaurant sectors abated during second half of the year
Fed publishes FOMC transcripts from 'crisis year' 2008
Transcripts of FOMC meetings from the year Lehman Brothers went bust reveal thinking behind exceptional monetary policy decisions
Iceland governor must re-apply for post as government mulls central bank shake-up
Ministry of finance says decision to review central bank's governing structure means it will advertise for applications for governorship; media speculate that political motives play a part
Forex loans helped Hungarian firms invest more - until the forint fell in the ‘great recession'
Working paper finds Hungarian firms that borrowed in foreign currencies invested more before the crisis, but experienced a negative balance sheet effect thereafter
IMF praises ‘dramatic’ turnaround in Spanish bank sector
Final report on Spain’s financial sector reform programme says ‘steadfast’ implementation paid dividends, but warns of a number of alarming trends still prevalent in the financial sector
Study finds support for Reserve Bank of Fiji's targeting of overnight policy rate
Working paper uses quarterly data for a 10-year period, 'comprehensively estimating all potential money demand equations within the ambit of monetary policy'
People: Bank of Spain bolsters supervisory staff; ECB advertises two more SSM posts
Bank of Spain fills two supervisory roles with internal promotions; ECB looks to hire two more deputy directors-general for SSM
Euribor rate-setting improvement ‘substantial’, say regulators
EBA-Esma report finds European benchmark setter has made ‘significant progress’ towards correcting previous governance failures, but six of 10 areas require further work
Central bank independence is 'oversold', says Cargill
Thomas Cargill, chair of the AEA's session on central bank independence, says rules-based approach first advocated by Milton Friedman is 'far more important' for price stability
Prasarn says Thailand still unsure of CCP viability
Thai governor says emerging markets need more time to assess whether creating central counterparties would bring the ‘intended benefits’ without ‘undue consequences’