News
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
Washington names nine to buy toxic assets
The US Treasury, Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation give nine firms the right to buy assets under the legacy securities programme
Bank surprise boosts sterling
Bank of England’s decision to hold quantitative easing programme at £125 billion sends pound up against euro and dollar
Fed’s Kohn sets out case for independence
Federal Reserve’s Donald Kohn appeals to lawmakers to maintain independent central bank
IMF research highlights regulatory governance gap
International Monetary Fund paper criticises non-bank regulators for failing to see stability as part of their mandate, finds frameworks for insurance supervision flawed
UK government wards Bank off leaning against wind
Alistair Darling’s long-awaited proposals beef up bank regulation but say the Bank of England should avoid leaning against the wind with rate moves
Nigeria liberalises FX regime, looks to spur liquidity
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s new governor displays intent to move rapidly to fix the financial sector