News
BoJ formally asked to double inflation target
Japanese government pressures Bank of Japan to increase short-run inflation target to 2%; no action likely before next monetary policy meeting on January 21–22
Central Bank of Cyprus defends re-hirings
Central bank employs three members of staff who had previously taken early retirement; defends decision as beneficial in ‘special circumstances’
Singapore authority seeks to cut banknote waste in new year celebrations
Monetary Authority of Singapore urges public to consider using good-as-new banknotes for traditional hong bao new year's gifts to prevent the unnecessary printing of 50 million notes
Draghi denies calls for rate cut as ECB holds again
European Central Bank's governing council holds rate, as inflation and growth remain steady; Mario Draghi optimistic about growing financial market confidence
Banks told they will not benefit from LCR delay
National supervisors tell banks not to lower liquidity buffers, with market forces also pushing banks towards 100% compliance with measure
UK statistics office to keep 'unsuitable' inflation measure
The UK Office for National Statistics will not change how it calculates RPI inflation – but will initiate an alternative index in parallel
Brazil increases gold holdings by 90% in three months
Central Bank of Brazil adds 31.9 tonnes of gold to its reserves between September and November; could indicate a desire to diversify away from the dollar
Recommendation due on UK RPI calculation consultation
The UK's Office for National Statistics will make its recommendation tomorrow morning over whether and how to change how it calculates the Retail Prices Index
Bank of Spain executives hit back at negligence claims
Executive commission rebuts claims made in a leaked internal report that the central bank’s supervisory department tended to ‘look the other way’ when there were signs of criminal activity
Irish governor bemoans sustained large sovereign spread
Patrick Honohan says the cost of Ireland’s funding still reflects a credit risk premium; Government’s €2.5 billion bond issuance met by ‘strong’ investor response
India extends Basel III timetable to let banks raise capital
Decision to push back Basel III implementation motivated by capital concerns, say market sources
National Bank of Austria reshuffles governing board
Governor Ewald Nowotny reappointed for second term; executive director Peter Zöllner departs for BIS, and two new executive directors are chosen
Bank of Canada wants national citizen to succeed Carney
Legislation dictates governor must be a Canadian citizen; advert for new governor released publicly on central bank website
Krugman adds lustre to $1 trillion coin plan
Proposal to mint a $1 trillion coin to avoid 'fiscal cliff' in US wins Krugman backing and Republican opposition
Filipino deputy gears up for legal battle
Central Bank of the Philippines deputy governor clashes with local businessman over accusations of money laundering
Bank of Portugal suspends staff holiday pay
Board of directors voluntarily waives own holiday pay and cancels that of its staff; board members also agree to take a pay cut for the fourth consecutive year
Fed’s Bullard blasts ‘fiscalisation’ of ECB
James Bullard defends central bank independence while criticising the European Central Bank for mixing monetary and fiscal policy in its outright monetary transactions
Basel eases final LCR rules but struggles with NSFR
Group of Governors and Heads of Supervision endorses relaxed phase-in rules for final liquidity coverage ratio but the proposed net stable funding ratio looks set to present further problems
Sarb hires head of new international relations department
Legal professor Daniel Bradlow will lead a new department at South African Reserve Bank designed to co-ordinate and direct its participation in international forums
OCC denies swaps push-out protection to non-US banks
Foreign banks have until July to push out derivatives activities after OCC guidance repeats Dodd-Frank drafting mistake
Nishimura wants change in macro-prudential focus
BoJ deputy governor says financial regulation should work counter-cyclically against demographic expansion to avoid fuelling property bubbles
Central Bank of Iceland suspends its foreign currency purchases
Iceland's central bank seeks to mitigate an ‘undesirably large’ depreciation of the Icelandic króna
Fed could stop asset purchases ‘well before end of 2013’
FOMC members express concerns over costs of quantitative easing as the Fed’s balance sheet expands; most members see purchases ending within a year
Bank of Lithuania axes quarter of staff
Lithuanian central bank completes process of streamlining main operations under four branches; cuts 195 employees during the course of a year