News
Bank of Ghana hikes rates and tightens forex controls in bid to defend currency
Central bank raises interest rates by 200bp to 18% at emergency meeting; follows yesterday's decree that all domestic transactions must be denominated in local cedi
US Congress committee highlights Volcker rule anomalies
Fed's Tarullo among regulators grilled by US Congress over apparently arbitrary exemptions to the Volcker rule
Lagarde lends weight to global clamour for policy co-ordination
IMF managing director joins Rajan and others in renewed calls for monetary policy to take into account international spillovers, as Fed taper rocks emerging markets
People: Former PM joins Czech central bank; Bank of Canada appoints ‘special adviser'
Czech National Bank replaces outgoing board member with man who was Prime Minister until last week; Canada appoints special adviser with financial system expertise
Fed proposals for updated payments system meets with mixed response
Some industry practitioners tell Fed it should move faster on payments reform, though others argue if it isn't broken, don't fix it
Bank of England says BBA could co-ordinate response to banking cyber attacks
Sweeping exercise aimed at preparing UK banks against attacks against financial infrastructure by ‘hostile nation state' also sees some firms struggle with new dual regulatory structure
Reserve Bank of Fiji targets more effective communication
The central bank will build a new communications framework and resurrect plans for a financial stability report as part of its strategic outlook for 2014-18
ECB reshuffles executive board
Benoît Coeuré takes over international and European relations; Yves Mersch inherits payments and market infrastructure; Vítor Constâncio gets macro-prudential policy
Central Bank of Nicaragua appoints Ovidio Reyes president
General manager was made acting president when Alberto Guevara was stripped of his responsibilities in mid-January, but was only officially appointed on Thursday
Bank of Ghana brings forward rate decision as falling currency feeds inflation
The central bank's monetary policy committee will meet tomorrow instead of February 19 following further weakening of the cedi; analysts expect rate increase of at least 100 basis points
RBA changes tune on cash and exchange rates
Reserve Bank of Australia hints at a ‘period of stability’ in interest rates and welcomes the weaker Australian dollar
National Bank of Hungary honours Austrian governor
Ewald Nowotny receives Lamfalussy Award for ‘exceptional international efforts’; associated conference in Budapest features comments from a host of European central bankers
Ben Bernanke joins Brookings; State Bank of Pakistan promotes deputy to acting governor
Bernanke, who left the Federal Reserve on Friday, will engage in ‘research and writing' at the Washington think-tank; State Bank of Pakistan deputy steps up after governor's departure
Bank of England to lay off up to 100 staff
The central bank is looking to save £18 million over the next three years by making operations leaner; union representatives ‘strongly' oppose resulting redundancies
Banque de France official: Sepa delays incur 'collective cost'
Denis Beau says the market participants that missed the February 1 deadline for migration to the new credit transfer and direct debit schemes should switch as soon as possible
Zimbabwe central bank aims to regain LORL and rate-setting powers
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe set to offer overnight lending to banks at a rate based on government debt yields from the end of March; will also begin issuing government treasuries
ECB releases AQR framework
Danièle Nouy and Vítor Constâncio outline the ‘building blocks’ of the asset quality review; say recruitment for the SSM is progressing ‘at full steam’
Ingves calls for consistency in risk weights for credible capital ratios
BCBS chair says underlying differences in risk drive lion's share of risk-weight variations, but some arise from supervisory and practice-based idiosyncrasies
EBA announces key ratios for European bank stress tests
European Banking Authority wants to see CET1 ratios of 8%, with 5.5% the threshold for an ‘adverse scenario'; stress tests to begin in the spring with results due out in October
Hungary targets forint entry into CLS
Hungary's central bank has committed itself to bringing the currency into CLS, and sources believe it could be added as early as next year
Bernanke passes torch to Yellen as poll shows US torn on his legacy
Janet Yellen to be sworn in as Federal Reserve chair on Monday, but de facto takes over when Bernanke bids farewell today
Unanimous Fed decision to taper 'sets precedent'
FOMC scales back monthly purchases by another $10 billion, makes no mention of EM turmoil; unanimous decision seen as making dissent less likely in coming meetings
RBNZ signals impending rate rise
Reserve Bank of New Zealand says it expects to increase the OCR ‘soon’ as inflationary pressures look set to increase over the next two years; today’s rate hold surprises markets
People: Israel appoints new currency head; ESRB re-elects Ingves
ESRB also reappoints Marek Belka, president of the National Bank of Poland, to steering committee and appoints Richard Portes, founder of CEPR, to Advisory Scientific Committee