News
Central Bank of Hungary buys $1.8m vacation home
Rural ‘castle hotel' boasts swimming pool, beer pavilion and a bowling alley; will be used for ‘recreation purposes' by staff and create local jobs, bank says
Time for clock synchronisation – regulators
Global regulators assess the need for a central reference clock to aid investigations into alleged abuse of financial markets
Mexico’s Carstens hails Fed’s communication on tapering
Augustin Carstens says Fed has ‘gone out of its way’ to spell out timing and dangers of adjustment; calls on Europe and Japan to ‘depend less on monetary policy’
Sovereign wealth fund could help Macao overcome gambling dependency, IMF says
Central bank could manage new sovereign wealth fund as Macao authorities seek higher return on booming reserves; IMF encourages idea in staff report
ECB hiring consultant to help design ABS programme
Mario Draghi says the preparations towards buying asset-backed securities are being made ‘with the expectation we will take action in this field’
Bank of Albania reviews procedures after employees steal $6m in cash
Governor remains in post despite public demonstrations over the theft of more than $6 million in Albanian banknotes by central bank employees
People: New chief economist at ADB; BoE insurance director departs
Columbia University’s Shang-Jin Wei joins the Asian Development Bank as chief economist; Julian Adams leaves the BoE; HSBC names new point man for central banks in Asia; and more
Macro-prudential policies could ‘become part of the problem’, says BIS’ Borio
Weight of expectation on macro-prudential policies to address financial system stresses may be too great, says BIS economics head Claudio Borio; stress tests ‘woefully deficient’ in predicting crises
UK government to 'explore potential of virtual currencies'
Major study will look into whether regulation is required for businesses to set up in the UK, says chancellor George Osborne, who adds virtual currencies can ‘transform lives’
Fed blasts big banks over ‘unrealistic' living wills
Eleven firms, including Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, must take ‘immediate action to improve their resolvability', US central bank says
PRA highlights restrictions on group own funds
Implementation note says capital instruments issued by third-country undertakings must conform to Solvency II to qualify as loss absorbing
RBI’s Rajan warns of possible asset price collapse; euro ‘too strong’
Financial sector imbalances could cause sudden price reversals and sharp spikes in volatility, risks many macroeconomists are still blind to, says Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan
UK rates set to stay low, says former MPC member Wadhwani
The cost of tightening too late is far lower than that of choking the recovery, says former monetary policy-maker Sushil Wadhwani
Rajan: ‘Let’s fight the anti-inflation fight once’
Raghuram Rajan says risks to inflation target have become ‘more balanced’ in recent months, but stresses the need to remain ‘vigilant’ as RBI holds key rate at 8%
BoE appoints UBS UK head to top banking regulator
Bank of England appoints two new members to the Prudential Regulation Authority, the country’s chief micro-prudential regulator
BoE’s Haldane sees greater role for central banks as risks shift
Central banks may have to address different episodes of financial instability as risks shift from the banking sector to other financial players, says BoE chief economist Andrew Haldane
Banque de France's Le Lorier says good communication can ‘substitute' for rate decisions
First deputy says comms can complement decisions in non-crisis times by revealing variables that inform monetary policy; argues monetary and macro-pru mandates can be reconciled
Bank of Portugal splits failed bank BES in 'clean’ resolution
Portuguese central bank splits troubled lender Banco Espírito Santo into good and bad bank as part of a €4.9 billion rescue
OCC 'disappointed' at lack of accounting convergence
With US and international loan-loss accounting rules set to diverge, bank regulators are preparing to level up the resulting capital differences
Spencer Dale quits the Bank of England
Bank's head of financial stability and former chief economist quits to join BP, just nine weeks into his new job following a major reshuffle
Former Temasek chairman makes switch to GIC board
S Dhanabalan returns to the GIC board which he left in 2005 to become Temasek chairman; Temasek's head of Europe has also quit the fund
IMF charts path towards PBoC policy rate
Staff report encourages the People’s Bank of China to stabilise borrowing costs in the interbank market as an ‘interim step’ towards establishing a policy rate
Bank of Russia-owned Sberbank hit with EU sanctions
EU list of sanctioned state-owned banks includes central bank-owned Sberbank, despite the US leaving it off its list this week
Argentina default may threaten central bank reserves
Developments this week could spell trouble for central bank; analyst says markets have overlooked Argentina's ‘heavy' debt repayment schedule going into next year