News
“We failed the system”: Carney at RBI panel
Governors including Canada’s Mark Carney and India’s Duvvuri Subbarao point to imbalances as root cause of the crisis, but skirt around concerns over the dollar
Germans in favour of kicking Greece out: poll
Survey in leading newspaper shows 53% of Germans think Greece should be kicked out of the eurozone if its debt troubles cannot be resolved, 67% want no part in a bail-out
ECB beefs up financial stability wing
European Central Bank readies itself for the establishment of European Systemic Risk Board; appoints director general
FSA’s Turner queries faith in deep and liquid markets
Britain’s top regulator calls for a conservative approach to liquidity, arguing that excessive financial activity is liable to do more damage than good
Mooted Fed policy shift presents dangers
Changing its operating target to the interest on reserves tool could be the best available fix for the Federal Reserve as it implements its exit strategy. But it is a process that poses risks
RBIs Subbarao pillories inflation targeting
India’s governor says crisis has “diluted if not dissolved” inflation-targeting consensus; says fiscal dominance likely to remain
Inflation targets must be raised: IMF’s Blanchard
IMF economists Olivier Blanchard, Giovanni Dell’Ariccia and Paulo Mauro call for central banks to revise their price growth targets if they want to avoid crippling deflation
British regulator asks for 10% more funds
Financial Services Authority puts bulk of responsibility to pay up on the bigger banks
China surprises with second reserve requirement hike
People’s Bank of China ups its reserve requirement ratio by 0.5 percentage points to drain excess liquidity from system
China’s SWF to take control of its portfolios
China Investment Corporation will increase the proportion of investments that are managed in house, says its chairman Lou Jiwei
HKMA in fresh drive to spur yuan trade
Hong Kong Monetary Authority measures promote renminbi bond issuance and settlement
British PM heralds global bank levy
British prime minister Gordon Brown flags growing consensus among leaders on a global bank tax following Obama proposals
India’s Gokarn rules out March hikes
Reserve Bank of India’s Subir Gokarn emphasises that, barring extraordinary circumstances, the central bank will not raise rates before April; central bank cracks down on PayPal
Fed mulling switch to new policy rate
Federal Reserve’s Ben Bernanke says officials mooting the use of interest on reserves as benchmark target
Triple A rating “ours to lose”: King
Bank of England’s Mervyn King says downgrade unlikely given Britain’s strong track record and maturity of government bonds
New governor for the Bank of Central African States
Former director-general Lucas Abaga Nchama takes over at the top after the firing of his predecessor, Philibert Andzembe, over an embezzlement enquiry and unexplained losses
Ex-Bank deputy wants shift in monetary policy remit
Former Bank of England deputy governor and Financial Services Authority chairman Howard Davies calls for central banks to broaden ambit of monetary policy; insists supervision best handled outside the central bank
Kenya gets first credit-reference bureau
Central bank governor Njuguna Ndung’u says credit bureaux will increase the availability and lower the cost of loans for borrowers
Watch money growth like ECB does: Trichet
ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet says the central bank has always considered monetary aggregates in its policy decisions, and urges the rest of the world to do so
Zim’s Gono to meet Biti, Mugabe over diamond seizure
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s Gideon Gono to meet with president and finance minister after police seize a reported 29kg of diamonds from the central bank
Some microfinance rules to mirror banks’: Basel
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision says some of its original principals on effective banking supervision will broadly apply to microfinance with a little tweaking
Israel inches towards rate-setting board
Bank of Israel law, which would set up a six-member Monetary Policy Committee, passes first of three readings in the Knesset
UK FSA chief executive in quit surprise
Financial Services Authority’s Hector Sants surprises City with decision to depart in the summer after three years as chief executive
Hungary to buy forint mortgage bonds to spur lending
Move by the National Bank of Hungary highlights concern over return to euro financing, seen as key cause of crisis