News
Banks taking on 'tenuous' risks - BIS
Banks worldwide may be taking on risks they will regret later if an economic upturn proves short-lived, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said on Monday.
Welteke settles for €25,000 fine
Ernst Welteke has agreed to pay 25,000 euros ($30,000)to charity to end a criminal probe into his conduct. Last week we reported his lawyers had rejected a demand of 50,000 euros saying the sum was "much too high".
Bundesbank board don't want new code of conduct
Some board members of the Bundesbank do not want to comply with a new code of conduct for the time being, following the scandal surrounding former president Ernst Welteke, and the latest one reportedly involving public money to build luxury villas for…
ECB board bypass Frankfurt
Apparently none of the Frankfurt based European Central Bank's board members actually live in Frankfurt, the FT revealed this week.
Trichet shown red card for speaking English
French deputies walked out of the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly on Monday 21 June when ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet began addressing a meeting in English, according to Reuters.
Germany draft Weder onto 'Five Wise Men' panel
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's cabinet approved Beatrice Weder di Mauro, a university economist, as the first woman and first foreigner to join the government's council of economic advisers, the so called "Five Wise Men".
Fed seeks nominations to Consumer Advisory Council
The Federal Reserve Board has announced that it is seeking nominations for appointments to its Consumer Advisory Council. Eleven new members will be appointed to serve three-year terms beginning in January 2005.
Zimbabwe's Gono ducks missiles on SA trip
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono was in South Africa this week to launch Homelink, a plan to encourage Zimbabweans living abroad to send home money through government channels. But the trip descended into chaos when Gono was booed by crowds…
Taiwan appoints new regulator chief
Taiwan has appointed Jaw Sheng Kong as chairman of the newly formed Financial Supervisory Commission. Kong, 48, is currently chairman of state-owned Taiwan Sugar Corp, said the Executive Yuan, the island's Cabinet.
Gerashchenko chosen as new Yukos chairman
Former chairman of the Central Bank of Russia Viktor Gerashchenko was elected chairman of Yukos, the Russian oil giant, on Thursday 24 June.
Ecofin unlikely to press Hungary on deficit
The council of European Union finance ministers (Ecofin) is scheduled to evaluate Hungary's convergence program on July 5, and preliminary consultations do not indicate that the council will urge Hungary to speed up its budget deficit reduction plans,…
Four CIS countries consider single currency
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine are pondering the possibility of a single currency that will be legal tender on the territory of the Common Economic Area they are creating, a senior official at the Belarussian National Bank told a news conference…
BoJ's Fukui says too soon to end easy money policy
Bank of Japan chief Toshihiko Fukui said on Friday 25 June that it is too early to discuss ending the central bank's ultra-loose credit policy.
EU proposes easing of stability pact
At its regular meeting on Thursday 24 June, the European Commission recommended that a country's economic situation should be taken into account when applying the stability and growth pact, Deutsche Welle reported.
Riksbank investigates premature rate announcement
Sweden's Riksbank said on Thursday 24 June that it was investigating the premature publication of its interest rate decision.
Sweden holds interest rates unchanged
At its meeting on Wednesday, 23 June, the Executive Board of the Sveriges Riksbank decided to leave the repo rate unchanged at 2 per cent. The Riksbank said that the recovery in Sweden and abroad is progressing largely as anticipated.
Rates not to blame for slow growth: Padoa-Schioppa
The European Central Bank's reluctance to cut interest rates below 2 per cent isn't to blame for slow growth in the 12 nations that share the euro, said Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, an ECB board member, in an interview with newspaper La Stampa.
IMF urges more flexible yuan policy
Rodrigo Rato, the new International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director, on Thursday 24 June told China's leaders that now would be a good time to make their yuan exchange rate policies more flexible.
Bank of England MPC Minutes 9/10 June 04
Minutes of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee Meeting were released on 23 June for the meeting of 9 and 10 June 2004. The minutes showed the MPC voted unanimously in favour of raising interest rates to 4.5% saying the outlook for the world…
IMF chief Rato calls for deficit cuts
On the first part of his first Asian trip, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Rodrigo Rato urged Washington to cut its budget deficit and called on Beijing to "slow down" the Chinese economy to a more sustainable pace.
OECD chief economist: Inflation risk 'manageable'
Jean-Phillipe Cotis, chief economist for the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said the current level of oil prices will not pose an inflationary threat to the U.S. and European economies.
Inflation too low for rate rise says Chile's Corbo
Chilean central bank president Vittorio Corbo has said that the nation's inflation rate is too low to warrant a hike in the bank's benchmark lending rate.
Fed strategy to meet demands of payment system
The Federal Reserve Banks has announced a strategy to accommodate the evolution of the nation's payments system from paper check processing to electronic processing, a development driven by a significant broad-based change in user preference, it said in…
Japanese reform efforts praised by IMF's Rato
The new head of the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday praised Japan's recent economic reforms saying the reforms had paid off and the future can be even brighter.