Central Banks
Bank of England resumes settlement after 'technical issue’
UK’s high-value payment system was ‘paused’ for several hours today, but is now back up and running; central bank extends opening hours to deal with backlog
Philippines central bank raises minimum capital requirements
The Central Bank of the Philippines has raised banks’ minimum capital level while unveiling new credit risk management rules that limit the collateral value of real estate mortgages
ECB taking minutes leak ‘very seriously’
Quotes from governing council discussions between May 2012 and January 2013 appear in press; reveal Jens Weidmann’s concerns over ELA provided to Cypriot bank
French paper examines impact of ECB policy changes on asset prices
Working paper considers how ‘policy shocks’ affected short-term interest rates, as well as the expected future path of short-term interest rates, between 2002 and 2013
Andrew Sheng says international monetary system is fundamentally flawed
Former chairman of Securities and Futures Commission says the world is breaking up into national currency blocks, and the revival of ‘Cold War 2.0’ makes it difficult to fix
Ecuador applies 0.5% tax on credit transactions to finance cancer care
A new regulatory body in Ecuador that counts the central bank governor as a member has devised the tax as a means of fulfilling social responsibilities
BoE’s Bailey slams European bonus caps
Deputy governor expresses ‘dismay’ at debate that misses what he sees as key points in designing appropriate incentives; points to flaws in Basel capital standards
SBP launches shariah-compliant open market operations
Islamic banks in Pakistan will now have access to central bank liquidity operations; survey reveals strong demand for Islamic finance in the country, but coverage remains patchy
Yellen ‘greatly’ concerned by inequality in US
Fed chair takes unusual step of addressing inequality in her speech at a Boston Fed conference; explores four ‘building blocks’ of economic opportunity
European Commission approves central bank’s BES intervention
Bankruptcy would have led to losses up to €28 billion; European Commission says central bank decision is ‘compatible with the internal market for reasons of financial stability’
Mersch: Asset buying may widen income inequality
Non-standard measures ‘shouldn’t last too long’, according to ECB executive board member Yves Mersch, because they could ‘widen income inequality’
Poloz recommends dropping forward guidance as conditions normalise
Bank of Canada governor suggests there are better ways of communicating when conditions normalise; most respondents to CentralBanking.com poll agree
BoE’s Haldane sees UK economy ‘writhing in both agony and ecstasy’
Chief economist sees reasons to be both optimistic and pessimistic about the UK economy, but says on balance rates are likely to have to stay lower for longer than expected
CPMI-Iosco report recommends tools for recovering FMIs
Report lays out toolkit for maintaining critical services and restoring stability in the event a financial market infrastructure comes close to collapse
Top regulators seek to dispel myth of global regulatory harmonisation
Officials from IMF, Bank of England and US Treasury say perfect harmonisation is next to impossible; key now is a shift from design of standards to implementation
The value of ETFs to central bank reserves managers
Exchange-traded funds have emerged as a means for reserve managers to gain access to new exposures and markets, but are they fit for purpose?
Bank of Russia to offer $50 billion through new FX repos
Russian central bank unveils new measures to boost short-term foreign exchange liquidity in markets, and will offer $50 billion between now and the end of 2016
Danièle Nouy: Fed facing similar data challenges as ECB
The supervisory board chair delivers concluding remarks to the ECB conference on statistics; notes similarities between approach of Fed and European authorities to data problems