News
EC to fight new US prudential rules for foreign banks, says EBF
EC "very concerned" about capital and liquidity proposals, says chief executive of the European Banking Federation
BIS committee hails Basel III progress
In report to G-20, the Basel committee says member countries are making ‘considerable progress’ implementing Basel III, despite long delays; laments ‘excessive’ variation in RWAs
FSB review finds bank resolution regimes 'lack important powers'
Results of last year's peer review show many countries still need to pass legislation to empower supervisory agencies to resolve failed financial institutions effectively
Draghi enters fray to defend Cyprus central bank independence
ECB president warns Cyprus government against violating the central bank’s independence by dismissing its governor; says any gold sales should benefit the central bank ‘first and foremost’
CNB board member issues warning on common bank resolution
Lubomir Lízal says common bank resolution most worrying element of European banking union; renminbi too politicised to use as reserve currency
Central banks 'getting away with murder', says currency investor
Central banks are pursuing the wrong policies and will find it difficult to know when to tighten monetary policy, says Axel Merk
IMF annual report says asset bubbles among risks of ‘MP-plus'
IMF warns of risk associated with loose monetary policy in the world's biggest economies, but says stance should remain 'very accommodative until recovery is well established'
Irish central bank puts 'embarrassing' error on new Joyce coin
Erroneous quote from James Joyce novel could make the collectors' coin even more valuable
Disjointed regulation could spell end of global banking era
Report says global banks must move faster with reform if their global operations are to weather the 'balkanisation' of financial markets caused by mismatching regulation between jurisdictions
Central banks weigh use of OTC clearing houses
Survey finds nearly 40% of central banks are considering clearing their OTC derivatives
Zimbabwean governor attempts to stem panic as StanChart faces closure
Gideon Gono tells depositors not to withdraw their savings following a government announcement that Standard Chartered will be shut down for non-compliance with indigenisation laws
EU and OECD say weak supervision shares blame for Slovenia's impending bank crisis
European Commission follows OECD in highlighting Slovenia's 'excessive imbalances'; both bodies call for improved supervision from the central bank
Palestine Monetary Authority finds greater parity between West Bank and Gaza territories
Palestinian central bank develops business-cycle indicator to assess economic performance in real time; finds gap in performance between two territories is shrinking
FDIC vice-chair says Basel III capital requirements provide illusion of safety
Thomas Hoenig says capital ratios allow banks to leverage up while outwardly appearing safe; warns systemically important banks have much worse leverage ratios than smaller institutions
IMF says independent central banks have ‘muzzled’ the inflation threat
World Economic Outlook says central banks have little reason to fear inflation resulting from loose policy – so long as their independence is upheld
FOMC members saw QE continuing ‘through midyear’ at March meeting
Participants at the FOMC’s last meeting broadly agreed to continue QE at existing pace ‘through midyear’ but failed to reach a consensus on when to slow asset purchases
Emirates central bank to introduce direct debit system
Central Bank of UAE to bring in direct debit system to allow payment in instalments without the need for post-dated cheques
Norwegian authorities chase benchmark rate reform
Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway proposes new framework for Norwegian Interbank Offered Rate-setting process; central bank looks to push envelope further
Bernanke says Fed stress tests were a ‘critical turning point’ in crisis
Fed chair says stress tests offer macro-prudential dimension to supervision; US banks have more tier 1 common equity under a severe stress scenario than they did in reality in 2008
Sarb’s head of financial stability fears new powers may cause conflict
Hendrik Nel says the Reserve Bank was not given much choice but to accept new supervisory powers; warns of conflict with monetary policy and possible threat to independence
Ireland’s financial regulator quits central bank
Deputy governor for financial regulation announces departure to ‘pursue other interests’; term spanned turbulent period for Ireland’s economy
Cyprus deputy sacked after two months
President revokes contract of central bank’s first ever deputy governor, whose ethnic Greek heritage made his appointment unconstitutional
FSB to assess efforts to end ‘mechanistic reliance’ on credit ratings
Peer reviews aim to hasten a move away from rating agencies, with countries expected to eliminate references to credit ratings from laws and encourage better internal credit risk assessments
Hungarian deputy governor resigns over new central bank regime
Last remaining deputy from the previous regime cites lack of professional debate and 'Potemkin' approach to stimulating growth