News
Alan Greenspan in memoir talks
According to Reuters, Alan Greenspan is in talks with major publishers about writing a memoir and bidding has already hit $5 million.
Report says China to set up reserve centre
The People's Bank of China will set up a foreign reserve operations center in Shanghai, the China Business News has reported.
Stark formally nominated for ECB job
Austrian finance minister Karl-Heinz Grasser said EU finance ministers formally nominated Bundesbank vice-president Juergen Stark as Otmar Issing's successor at the European Central Bank.
BIS plans to deepen its involvement in Asia
The Bank for International Settlements on Monday announced initiatives to deepen its relationship with its Asian shareholders.
Fed announces Michelle Smith to stay on
The Federal Reserve Board on Friday announced that Michelle A. Smith will continue in her position as Assistant to the Board and Director of the Office of Board Members. The Board had previously announced that she would be leaving to work for former…
Central banks invest in riskier assets
Just under half of the central banks responding to a recent survey have increased their investments in "new" asset classes in the past year.
Former Polish minister against super regulator
In an interview for the Parkiet daily, the former head of the Polish Securities and Exchange Commission (KPWiG) and treasury minister in Marek Belka's government, Jacek Socha, assessed the Polish financial market as not mature enough to introduce…
Riksbank reshuffles division of work
The Executive Board of Sweden's Riksbank made a decision on 2 February on the division of work between the members of the Board.
BOJ's Mizuno cautions on asset bubble risk
Bank of Japan policy board member Atsushi Mizuno has said that the BOJ's super-easy monetary policy may help produce an asset bubble in Japan, the Jiji Press news agency reported.
Snow says G8 shares responsibility for imbalances
Group of Eight finance ministers believed global growth prospects remained strong but they shared a responsibility to reduce imbalances which threaten the outlook, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said Saturday.
GCC common monetary council expected
The GCC has said it is likely to set up a common monetary council in the Gulf by the end of this year.
Euro group set to nominate Buba's Stark to ECB
Eurozone finance ministers are set to nominate Bundesbank vice-president Juergen Stark next week for the European Central Bank executive board post, an EU official told reporters Thursday 9 February.
Issing says ECB ready to act on inflation risks
European Central Bank Chief Economist Otmar Issing said the bank is not necessarily embarking on a predetermined course of raising interest rates successively but that it is ready to act to contain higher inflationary risks.
Fiji announces new banknote designs
The Reserve Bank of Fiji on Friday 10 February signed an agreement for the printing of a series of new design Fiji banknotes with De La Rue International Limited of United Kingdom.
RBNZ to raise Settlement Cash Level to $2,000m
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand will raise the Settlement Cash Level (SCL) from its current level of $500 million to $2,000 million, for value date 13 February 2006.
Gerd Hausler notifies IMF of intention to leave
Gerd Hausler, Counsellor and Director of the International Monetary Fund's International Capital Markets Department (ICM), has notified IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato of his intention to return to Europe and has asked to be released from his…
Japan's Diet approves Suda's reappointment at BOJ
The Diet gave approval on Friday 10 February to a government plan to retain Miyako Suda as a member of the Bank of Japan's policy panel for a second five-year term.
Bank of Korea hikes rates again
The Bank of Korea raised its benchmark overnight call rate by 25 basis points at their monthly monetary policy meeting in Seoul yesterday. In doing so, governor Park Seung and his six fellow policymakers raised the overnight call rate to 4%.
BoJ - inflation to accelerate in Q1
The Bank of Japan's (BoJ) nine-member board ended Thursday's monetary policy meeting by keeping policy unchanged. BoJ governor, Toshihiko Fukui, said he expected inflation to accelerate in first quarter of 2006.
BoE leaves rates unchanged
The Bank of England left interest rates unchanged at 4.5% following its two-day monetary policy meeting. The bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) last cut rates in August 2005, when policy rates were reduced by 0.25%.
Big reserve holders in Asia
The president of the Asian Development Bank, Haruhiko Kuroda, told Dow Jones newswires yesterday that "emerging economies in Asia are well advised to decelerate the accumulation of foreign exchange reserves". "Many of them have more than enough", he said.
Geopolitics boost gold - Greenspan
Recently retired US Federal Reserve chariman, Alan Greenspan, is reported to have attributed high gold prices to investor concerns over major geopolitical conflicts and not a reflection of inflation worries.
Palestian transfers can continue - Fischer
The governor of the Bank of Israel, Stanley Fischer, has said Israel can still have economic ties with the Palestinians after Hamas takes over, provided the Islamic militants do not resume attacks on Israel.
Israeli CB deputies to go
The two deputy governors of the Bank of Israel, Meir Sokoler and Avia Spivak, will retire from the central bank at the end of the month. The governor of the Bank of Israel, Stanley Fischer, informed the Israeli Minister of Finance of the move earlier…