News
UK banks lament costs of ring-fencing operations
House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee report shows UK’s biggest banks believe recommendations to ring-fence retail operations underestimate costs of reform but agree measures are a “done deal”
Major central banks take co-ordinated action
Central banks reduce US overnight index swap rate from 100 basis points to 50 basis points above market rate to flood financial system with dollar liquidity
Thailand and China ease monetary policy
Thailand cuts benchmark rate and China lowers reserve ratio as eurozone crisis impact is felt in Asia; Thailand also keen to combat effects of devastating floods
Eurozone bolsters EFSF’s lending capacity
European Financial Stability Facility to guarantee between 20% and 30% of new bond issuance by beleaguered eurozone states; new measures will enable fund to leverage €250 billion of funds
Lithuania fires head of credit institutions supervision department
Kazimieras Ramonas unceremoniously sacked; new central bank department will take over financial market supervision in 2012
China central bank official nominated to join private bank’s board
Wang Hongzhang tipped to become chairman of the China Construction Bank Corporation after unanimous nomination to join board of directors; will leave People’s Bank of China after a long career there
Austria's Nowotny under scrutiny in banknote bribery case
Governor Ewald Nowotny and members of the central bank’s supervisory board under investigation; accused of having knowledge of bribery of foreign officials in race to win banknote printing contracts
ECB credibility is damaged, say CBP panellists
Fourth Central Banking ON AIR webinar sees heated discussion over the future of the eurozone; ECB has suffered damaged credibility but independence is unscathed, say panellists
UK government launches separate easing programme
Bank of England agrees to reduce the maximum size of its Asset Purchase Facility to make way for government’s new credit easing programme; settles dispute over bolstering lending to SMEs
Malaysia and Singapore sign cross-border collateral MoU
Monetary Authority of Singapore and Bank Negara Malaysia sign agreement to establish cross-border collateral arrangement; boosting confidence of financial institutions is one aim of the move
Bank of Lebanon denies financial ties with Syrian regime
Governor Riad Salameh says Arab League sanctions on Syria will not apply as Lebanese central bank does not have any dealings with Damascus
Moody’s issues EU-wide credit warning
Credit rating agency says every EU sovereign rating under threat; warning given on same day OECD labels eurozone crisis “key risk to the world economy”
Expert group calls for launch of Eurobond fund
European League for Economic Co-operation publishes proposals requesting the establishment of eurozone bond fund; would issue paper with maturities of up to two years
BoJ’s Shirakawa raises concerns over Japan’s growth outlook
Bank of Japan governor Masaaki Shirakawa warns economy is at risk of entering a “severe” economic period unless efforts are taken to address medium- to long-term growth prospects
Egypt renews governor’s term
Farouk El-Okda to serve another four-year term; new-look board of governors also revealed
Venezuela begins gold repatriation
First shipment of Venezuelan gold reserves made; central bank says uncertainty in Europe was a factor in the decision to move the precious metal
Bank of England sets out code of practice on electronic trading
Members of the FX Joint Standing Committee comment on the recently reviewed Nips code, which includes a new section on electronic trading
France confirms Cœuré as ECB nominee
Finance ministry puts Benoît Cœuré forward as nominee to replace Bini Smaghi on European Central Bank’s executive board; firm favourite choice confirmed
FSA’s Bailey calls on banks to plan for eurozone break-up
Banks must prepare for the "disorderly departure of some countries from the eurozone", says Andrew Bailey
Sweden sets higher capital buffers for big banks
Swedish authorities say capital buffers of country’s largest banks will be raised to 10% of risk-weighted assets by 2013, swelling to 12% in 2015
Ex-MPC member says BoE wrong to delay on QE
Former Bank of England external member Sushil Wadhwani disagrees with current rate-setter Martin Weale over when to provide additional stimulus to UK economy
Swaziland trains Revenue Authority cash collectors
Officers shown security features of banknotes introduced last year; participants travelled from all over the country to attend the training
Greek central bank issues government with ultimatum
Bank of Greece tells newly formed government that unless structural reforms are implemented on schedule, Greece risks being thrown out of the eurozone
ECB offers CSDs financial incentives for early T2S adoption
European Central Bank offers central securities depositories (CSDs) financial incentives to sign up to T2S early; governing council gives CSDs until the end of April to agree