News
Dutch paper looks at sovereign bank interdependencies
Researchers apply correlation between sovereign and bank credit default swaps
ECB minutes show dissent over asset purchases
Some council members expressed “scepticism” over asset purchases; two programme extension options were discussed
Bank of Lithuania plans to cut costs by a fifth
Strategic plan aims at improvements to payments system; bank aims to increase income from investment
BIS fails to find single cause of sterling ‘flash crash’
Report finds “numerous” factors which amplified the effects of the depreciation, including “inexperience staff” and “fragile” market conditions; lessons must be learned, BIS warns
Bitcoin exchange halts service after PBoC clampdown
BTC123 becomes first exchange in China to halt services due to ongoing investigation by government agencies into virtual currency; cuts rates on wealth products
US may not experience fiscal stimulus – Atlanta Fed president
Dennis Lockhart says the US economy has reached a “transitional” juncture; says declines in key growth factors are holding the economy back
Swift creates distributed ledger proof-of-concept
Swift, in conjunction with Hyperledger working group, will launch private distributed ledger network to help banks manage their cross-border payments
FSB finalises recommended action on asset management risks
Set of recommendations tackle liquidity, leverage, op risk and securities lending; work on globally systemic designations pushed back until 2019
Brazil ups pace of easing as inflation drops
Size of cut surprises observers, though inflation proves more favourable than expected; rates still rising in real terms
PBoC to investigate bitcoin firms
Bitcoin price falls by 33% in January; PBoC to investigate four largest bitcoin companies
Carney admits Brexit is no longer UK’s biggest stability risk
Bank of England governor quizzed on importance of transitional arrangements for Brexit; external financial policy member defends forecasting, but admits “surprise” at the health of the economy
Lacker to retire from Fed after 28 years
Jeffrey Lacker, who has a reputation as a monetary policy hawk, is to step down as Richmond Fed president in October; the search is on to find successor
Slovenian court rejects ECB lawsuit against authorities
Case regards police seizure of ECB data in raid on country's central bank
Italian police arrest two over Draghi hacking allegations
Investigating official suspects wide-ranging conspiracy; attempts made to hack over 18,000 email accounts, local authorities say
Azerbaijan raids oil fund as central bank reserves dwindle
President allocates chunk of oil fund to top up central bank reserves, as pressure on the manat continues
Defence and diversification key to fund success – HKMA deputy
Exchange fund is to continue diversifying into industries that can “counter” inflationary pressures, Yue says, as a challenging investment environment looks set to continue
ECB announces plans for instant payment system changes
Coming year will see “decisive” innovations to clearing and settlement systems, Yves Mersch says; French governor calls for more European competition in payment services
Turkish central bank acts to support lira as inflation jumps
Central bank launches fresh measures to counter “unhealthy price formations”; inflation surprise in December adds to pressure for monetary policy action
Thai governor calls for rethink of monetary policy frameworks
New structure should systematically acknowledge the negative impact of monetary policy; Santiprabhob recognises macroprudential cannot take all the strain
TK Whitaker, 1916–2017
Former Irish governor was key figure in his country’s economic modernisation; earlier served as senior civil servant in finance and pushed through far-reaching reform plan
Regional Fed presidents call for further rate rises
Richmond and Boston heads say the Fed should reach inflation target in 2017
Luc Coene, 1947–2017
Former Belgian central bank governor also had significant political career
RBI research arm tests blockchain for clearing, settlement
IDRBT releases white paper on the applications of blockchain, examining the benefits for the Indian financial sector; research group created proof-of-concept architecture to simulate clearing network
Stronger 2016 profit helps SNB rebuild reserves
Profitable year helps central bank repair its distribution reserve after losses in 2015, though profits appear to have slipped slightly in the fourth quarter