News
Italy to amend tax on gold on ECB opinion
Rome set to cut tax on gold after European Central Bank challenges levy
UAE’s Al Suwaidi: we could buy more Dubai debt
Governor Sultan bin Nasser Al Suwaidi indicates central bank may purchase more Dubai bonds after buying $10 billion-worth of debt from the emirate earlier this year
NZ placed on negative watch on growth fears
Fitch switches outlook from stable to negative on concerns over medium-term outlook
Ex-SEC heads look to limit Fed’s powers
An investor group chaired by two former SEC chairmen says Fed should not be granted responsibility for systemic risk
China’s reserves exceed $2 trillion
China’s foreign-exchange reserves reach a new record high
Japan extends special measures to 2010
Bank of Japan says credit easing and dollar liquidity provision will last until at least the end of this year
BoE’s Bean confident Treasury would agree to more QE funds
Deputy governor Charlie Bean says Bank of England would “expect” chancellor to allow more funds for quantitative easing
Trade flows continue to collapse across G7
OECD points to 13.6% drop in exports in first quarter, Japan faring particularly badly
Warsaw split on use of central bank profit
Poland’s politicians divided on whether central bank profits should cover budget deficit or currency risk
Central counterparties for CDS compared
Ad hoc industry group comprising both buy-side and sell-side publishes report on credit-default-swap central counterparties
UK inflation sinks below target
British price gauge falls below Bank of England’s target for first time in almost two years
MPC’s Posen queries symmetry of inflation targets
Newest member of Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee cites dangers in undershooting target and questions “mechanistic” monetarist view on quantitative easing
US racks up biggest ever June deficit
Gap for current financial year tops $1 trillion
Basel II enhancements released
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision announces revisions to supervisory framework and rules on trading-book capital
Forged euro notes surge by 17%
Counterfeit banknotes seized in first half of this year have face value of €19.3m
Ethiopia devalues birr
Value of Ethiopian currency falls 10% against the greenback
Economists petition lawmakers for Fed independence
Former Federal Reserve governor Frederic Mishkin among the signatories of online petition to keep monetary policy independent
New Zealand issues risk guidelines for non-banks
Reserve Bank of New Zealand expands focus of risk-management rules beyond banks
HKMA’s Yam hints at diversification
Departing Hong Kong Monetary Authority chief says he has “open mind” on whether exchange fund should diversify away from dollar into renminbi
Chile to lend at record-low interest rates until 2010
Chilean banks to be able to borrow at 0.5% until end of year
Foreign demand for euro banknotes on the rise
European Central Bank shows that 2008 saw a strong increase in the demand for euro-cash outside the euro area
Eurozone banks pay heed to ECB’s debit card calls
Euro-area banks proposing system to rival MasterCard and Visa
Russia chops another half point off benchmark rate
Central Bank of Russia cuts key rate to lowest since July 2008
IMF sees world economy coming out of recession
International Monetary Fund says global economy pulling out of recession, but recovery expected to be sluggish