News
EU court to rule on UK challenge to ECB's clearing policy
Verdict due on March 4 in first of three UK complaints about eurozone clearing oversight; ECB policy calls for some firms clearing euro-denominated products to be incorporated in the eurozone
People: Blejer named adviser to Bank of Albania governor; Chile gets new statistics head
Mario Blejer, a former governor of Argentina’s central bank, will serve as an adviser to the new Bank of Albania governor; Central Bank of Chile names new statistics head; and more
Philadelphia Fed names Patrick Harker president
Charles Plosser retired yesterday and Patrick Harker will take the reins in July; his background includes a host of academic posts and a spell on the Philadelphia Fed board
Plosser and Conti-Brown debate Fed governance reforms
Peter Conti-Brown proposes giving the Fed’s board of governors the power to appoint and remove Reserve Bank presidents; Charles Plosser rejects arguments in his response
RBI gets formal inflation target
Reserve Bank of India tasked with getting inflation below 6% by January and handed a 4% target to chase from then; governor retains sole responsibility for setting monetary policy
Angolan central bank rejects public designs for new coins
Applicants failed to meet the requirements of the competition launched for the design of two new coins. The National Bank of Angola will now develop the motifs of the 50 and 100 kwanzas
PBoC steps up easing with another rate cut
China’s central bank cuts interest rates for the second time in less than four months, in a sign it is becoming more aggressive in combating economic weakness
BoJ’s Nakaso: More to be done to anchor expectations
Deputy governor points to ‘green shoots’ with regard to inflation and wage expectations but warns more work must be done to anchor them at the 2% target
First CPMI-Iosco peer review finds gaps in trade repository principles
Peer review of Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures in Europe, Japan and the US finds jurisdictions have made good progress with CCPs, but gaps remain among trade repositories
RBI official says India corporates need to increase forex hedging
Potential US rate rise puts rupee depreciation back on the table; executive director at RBI raises concern over corporate balance sheets
HKMA tightens housing rules as ‘buoyancy’ returns
Norman Chan points to ‘notable increases in prices and transaction volume’ as he unveils changes to the HKMA’s macro-prudential policies
Kazakh central bank expects to hit inflation target if oil averages $50 or $60
National Bank of Kazakhstan publishes two forecasts with different assumptions about oil price; plans to limit market volatility by expanding monetary instruments
Hryvnia back from brink despite central bank U-turn
Central bank manages to stem Ukrainian currency’s free-fall despite adding to market chaos with volte-face on foreign exchange controls; two failed banks enter liquidation
BoE revamps market intelligence approach
New approach to include greater transparency and a new executive committee to oversee market intelligence, following concerns flagged by Grabiner Report
Greek governor calls for reform and coherent growth plan
Yannis Stournaras urges government to honour Greece’s commitments and reach a prompt agreement with its European partners, then focus on creating sustainable growth
IMF research looks to jumpstart market for Italian NPLs
Nadège Jassaud and Kenneth Kang discuss their strategy for fostering a market for non-performing loans with Central Banking, stressing the need for ‘decisive action’
Draghi defends Greek waiver decision in heated parliament session
ECB president defends bond-waiver decision and dismisses ‘popular mistakes’ over the disbursement of profits, having to raise his voice over heckling from MEPs
Climate change on BoE research agenda
Bank of England says research could examine how central banking can ‘play a role’ in addressing systemic environmental risks; conference panellists consider issue
BoE panellists: Central banks need better understanding of policy interactions
Policy-makers are already having to cope in practice with a ‘tripartite’ mandate while research struggles to catch up, raising the possibility of dangerous blind spots
BoE unveils wide-ranging research agenda
‘One Bank’ research agenda seeks to shake up the status quo and help theory catch up with the practice of new central bank mandates and looming challenges
Haldane wants to turn economic methodology on its head
BoE chief economist turns away from deductive methods and towards mining big data in search of correlations, but former ECB research director warns him to temper his enthusiasm
Yellen defends relationship with White House
Fed chair tells congressional committee she did not discuss monetary policy with Treasury secretary or executive branch of government, when quizzed on ‘near-weekly’ meetings
State Bank of Pakistan mulls new target rate
New proposals aim to establish a new ‘target rate’ within the existing interest rate corridor; advisory committee on monetary policy will decide whether to adopt them next month
Poloz calls for ‘reinvention’ of central banking
Bank of Canada researching changes to its inflation targeting regime; Poloz asks how best how to incorporate financial stability into framework and avoid ZLB episodes