News
Lord Kingsdown pays tribute to BoE’s George Blunden
“If he approved, it was likely to be the right answer,” says former governor of the Bank of England; other former central bank colleagues pay respects to man with "highest moral standards"
Lagarde chooses new IMF secretary
Christine Lagarde picks Jianhai Lin as secretary of the Fund; becomes first Chinese national to hold the post
Former Bank of Haiti governor shot dead
Venel Joseph, former governor of the Central Bank of Haiti killed in his car; held office as chief of the central bank between August 2001 and March 2004
Asia-Pacific keeps rates on hold as Brazil surprises with 75bp cut
Korea, Indonesia and New Zealand keep benchmark interest rates on hold despite surprise 75 basis point cut by the Central Bank of Brazil to 9.75%
SNB spent $19.6 billion maintaining minimum exchange rate
SNB purchased foreign currency to a value of $19.6 billion in 2011; central bank also reveals larger than expected profit
UK payment card fraud falls to 10-year low
UK card fraud has fallen sharply due to ‘chip and pin’ and new online payment services, reaching a 10-year low in 2011. Online banking fraud has also fallen but bogus mortgages remain a concern
Auditors find no breach of SNB regulations by governing board
Audit of own-account transactions by members of the enlarged governing board of the Swiss National Bank reveals no breach of the regulations in place during the time of investigation
BoE unveils new heads in monetary analysis and statistics division
Bank of England appoints three new department heads in its monetary analysis and statistics division; seen as a springboard to MPC
European Commission pursues Hungarian central bank independence issue
European Commission welcomes Hungarian promise to change legislation affecting the independence of the central bank, but wants to see more details
RBA hands over responsibility for autonomous financial sanctions
Reserve Bank of Australia no longer has regulatory responsibility for autonomous financial sanctions; Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade now handles implementation and administration of law
Bank of Estonia to reveal travel statistics gleaned from mobile positioning data
Estonian central bank has been using data from mobile phone usage for more than three years to assist with balance of payments calculation; only two other European central banks operate similar systems
New CRD IV draft exempts sovereign trades from CVA capital charge
The latest council draft adds a CVA capital charge exemption for sovereign derivatives transactions – potentially removing one of the big unintended consequences of CRD IV, participants say
Deputy governor renews Bank of Japan attack on Volcker rule
Kiyohiko Nishimura reiterates Bank of Japan’s concerns over unintended consequences of Volcker rule; says “prudent assessment” of potential impact of the rule on other countries is “crucial”
Australia leaves benchmark rate unchanged again
Reserve Bank of Australia decides to keep cash rate unchanged at 4.25%; follows surprise decision in February to do the same
Canada cracks down on Syrian central bank
Canada imposes asset freeze on Central Bank of Syria; foreign affairs minister reiterates demand that president Assad step down
Tucker replaces Dudley as chairman of CPSS
Bank of England’s Paul Tucker to replace New York Fed’s William Dudley as head of international committee responsible for payments, clearing and settlements infrastructure
Former Venezuelan central banker joins board of commodities company
PetroMagdalena announces appointment of Central Bank of Venezuela veteran Nelson Ortiz as director
Dutch central bank warns on budget deficit
Netherlands Bank says “highest priority” is required for restructuring of Dutch public finances
South Africa must tackle capital flows ‘challenge’, says deputy governor
Sarb deputy governor says problems with capital flows in South Africa require “fresh thinking”; rand exchange rate fluctuations causing problems
China expands yuan cross-border settlement option to all exporters
People’s Bank of China permits all companies qualified for foreign trade activities to conduct international settlements in yuan, reports official Xinhua news agency
Ireland replaces credit institutions supervisor
Jonathan McMahon announces decision to return to the UK; Fiona Muldoon, director of insurance supervision to assume responsibility for the supervision of credit institutions
CB.com poll finds support for financial transaction tax
Survey sees 56% of voters support the introduction of a financial transaction tax in Europe
Turkey reveals new currency symbol
Turkish prime minister leads ceremony at the Central Bank of Turkey to unveil the new symbol for the lira
Swedish authorities lambast maximum harmonisation for Basel III
Swedish Finansinspektionen and the Riksbank hold first joint meeting on macroprudential policy matters; again take on EU proposals to fix capital adequacy requirements