News
IMF research warns Liikanen, Vickers and Volcker could cause instability
IMF economists including José Viñals call for global cost-benefit analysis to assess cross-border impact of national plans to restructure banks
VocaLink: Seven-day account switching set to shake up UK banks
Chris Dunne says UK payments are undergoing important changes that could see ‘economic battle' between banks; expects closer scrutiny of infrastructure by regulators
Former MPC members warn against 'shock' QE exit
Andrew Sentance and Kate Barker warn of economic impact of the Bank of England ending its asset purchases; Sentance surprised by persistently low interest rates
Lack of co-ordination of bank resolution regimes behind subsidiarisation push
Asia still behind on global rules forcing subsidiarisation of foreign banks in the region
Germans clash over banking union treaty change
ECB board member opposes German finance minister's plan to introduce limited version of banking union to allow time for treaty change
Irish plan for distressed borrowers attracts criticism
Central Bank of Ireland encourages cooperation between lenders of secured and unsecured debt to keep distressed borrowers from bankruptcy; Irish League of Credit Unions denounces scheme
BIS: Forex OTC markets hold steady, despite regulatory uncertainty
Semi-annual BIS survey reveals a rise in forex OTC derivatives transactions in the second half of last year
Israel cuts rates and buys forex in moves to ward off ‘Dutch disease'
Unscheduled monetary policy decision by Bank of Israel cuts base rate 25bp as central bank launches a forex purchase programme to hold the shekel down after gas finds
Omani central bank unveils SME measures
All banks operating in Oman will have to allocate 5% of credit portfolios to SMEs; prudential and collateral requirements relaxed to encourage lending
Sri Lanka cuts rates 50bp in defiance of IMF advice
Central bank cuts benchmark interest rate by 50bp to 7% as growth stutters and inflation falls; IMF warned yesterday against ‘further easing of monetary policy in the near term'
Iceland’s Guðmundsson backs MAS-style stability model
Icelandic governor says managed float and strong supervision are important lessons to be taken from Singapore; says capital controls helped avoid a default in Iceland, but should not be used lightly
Plosser warns US regulations could cause unnecessary bail-outs
Philadelphia Fed president says existing efforts to end too-big-to-fail may ‘come up short' and advocates a more rules-based approach; criticises Basel III risk weights
Banks push alternative to Basel Committee securitisation model
Basel proposals would kill European market, banks warn – and some regulators sympathise
Central Bank of Nigeria hits back at ‘unfounded and mischievous’ reports
Central bank denies reports that it destroyed documents demanded in a hearing of the Nigerian parliament’s Public Accounts Committee
European Parliament poised to approve next step in banking union
European political groupings have reached agreement on a text for the recovery and resolution piece of Europe's planned banking union
People: New director-general at Bank of Italy; Bank of Israel adviser ends 30-year tenure
Salvatore Rossi becomes Bank of Italy's director-general; Barry Topf leaves Bank of Israel after 30 years; and more
IMF paper scrutinises ‘procyclicality’ in reserve management
Over half of central bank reserve managers surveyed by IMF say they would alter practices to reduce procyclicality; paper questions reliance on credit rating agencies
Australian regulators unveil criteria for mandatory clearing
Three regulators, including the RBA, reveal how they will decide whether and when to implement mandatory clearing requirements for OTC derivatives
European rates: UK and Norway on hold as Denmark and Poland cut
Bank of England marks time ahead of Mark Carney’s arrival and Norges Bank keeps policy steady, while Denmark and Poland take action
Korean rate cut follows global trend but takes analysts by surprise
Base rate cut of 25 basis points by Bank of Korea aims to boost inflation and employment, and halt the Korean currency's rise against the yen
Asmussen and Rehn sketch plans for European body to replace ‘troika'
ECB board member defends scale of emergency liquidity extended to ‘insolvent' Cypriot banks; confirms the bank has an open mind on ABS purchases to ease SME credit crunch
RBI sees scope for Giro payments system
Committee finds India’s existing payments system fails to meet consumers’ needs when paying bills; proposes a supplementary system to move bill paying onto a single interoperable platform
Philippines central bank braces for impact of rating upgrades
Central bank says it is ‘vigilant’ to asset bubbles resulting from country’s upgrade to investment grade status by two of the three main rating agencies
Former BoE policy-makers demand action from Mark Carney
John Gieve says Carney is likely to introduce conditional forward guidance and expand QE; Rachel Lomax backs FPC remit that requires a “consistent message” among its members