News
When will the sovereigns return - and how?
Participants in a conference on the management of sovereign assets and reserves, hosted by Central Banking Publications, were split over when public investors will regain their appetite for risk following significant losses during the current financial…
Fed's Stern: recession could end in mid-2009
In one of the most bullish assessments of the state of the US economy by an official of the Federal Reserve since the start of the crisis, Gary Stern, the long-serving president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, said that the recovery could…
Geithner outlines regulatory overhaul
Tim Geithner, the US Treasury secretary, sounded the knell of light-touch regulation on Thursday, outlining a reform agenda that if passed will see a single systemic-risk supervisor clamp down on all financial firms deemed either too big, or too…
Former Hungarian governor frontrunner for premier
Gyorgy Suranyi, a former governor of the National Bank of Hungary, is seen as a frontrunner to become the next prime minister of the eastern European state.
Geithner open to Zhou suggestion, but backs buck
Tim Geithner, the US Treasury secretary, said on Wednesday that he was open to People's Bank of China governor Zhou Xiaochuan's suggestion of expanding the use of special drawing rights (SDRs) but affirmed the dollar's strength.
Wellink eyes caps on bonuses and hedge funds
Nout Wellink, the chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and president of the Netherlands Bank, has called for international principles for bonuses and financial sector pay.
European banks to drop interchange fees by 2012
The European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) have told European banks to get rid of interchange fees on direct debit transactions by 31 October 2012 under EU antitrust rules.
IMF to loan Romania $17.5 billion
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed a $17.5 billion loan to Romania to cushion the rapid withdrawal of capital from the eastern European economy.
Spain's Vinals to succeed Caruana at IMF
Jose Vinals, is the new director of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) monetary and capital markets department, replacing Jaime Caruana, now general manager of the Bank for International Settlements.
A guide for would-be MPC members
An ability to challenge convention, courage in one's convictions and a thick skin are some of the qualities essential for Monetary Policy Committee members, two external members of the Bank of England's committee have said.
Calls for Bank to retake control of regulation
The leader of Britain's main opposition party wants the Bank of England to regain its role in regulating the overall level of debt in the banking system.
MPC dove slams policy orthodoxy
David Blanchflower, an external member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, has launched a scathing attack on monetary-policy orthodoxy, questioning inflation targeting's intellectual roots and advocating consideration of whether to use…
Fed sets boundaries for stability role
The Federal Reserve sought to clarify its role as a guardian of financial stability on Monday in an attempt to avoid taking what one regional Fed president has labelled "risky" fiscal action.
King details vision for quantitative easing
The Bank of England expects to spend the first £75 billion ($110.5 billion) tranche set aside for quantitative easing, within the next three months, Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank, said on Tuesday.
South Africa cuts by 100 basis points
The South African Reserve Bank chopped 100 basis points off its key rate for the second month in a row on Tuesday.
UK inflation statistic surprises
The British CPI inflation statistic for the year to February, out Tuesday, confounded analysts' expectations of a steep fall, rising by a fifth of a percentage point from the January figure.
Buba to strengthen stability role
The Bundesbank is strengthening its role in financial stability by establishing a new department as part of a significant structural overhaul.
Geithner bailout meets with mixed reviews
The markets loved it. But economists' reaction to US Treasury secretary Tim Geithner's public-private partnership to relieve banks of their toxic assets was more critical.
China's Zhou wants SDRs as global currency
Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of the People's Bank of China, has urged countries to adopt special drawing rights (SDR) as an international reserve currency as part of a move towards a more stable global monetary order.
Buba names new communications head
Benedikt Fehr, a journalist for a German daily, is to become the new head of the Bundesbank's communications department after Christian Burckhardt, the former head, died tragically last December.
UK rejigs inflation basket
Rose wine, hot rotisserie chicken and internet-based DVD subscriptions are some of the items that have been added to Britain's new inflation basket.
Rules alone will not stop crises: Rajan, White
Raghuram Rajan and William White, two highly-regarded economists, have said that regulation - whether it was tighter, less pro-cyclical or more systemic - would not prevent future crises unless fundamental structural and behavioural changes were made to…
Estonia to meet Maastricht criteria in 2009
Andres Lipstok, the governor of the Bank of Estonia, has said that the country will meet all the Maastricht criteria for euro entry later this year, reports say.
Reforming regulation: how urgent, how effective?
Participants in a conference hosted by the London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank in London on Thursday were split over whether there was substance to regulatory buzzwords such as countercyclical supervision and utility-based banking.