News
Swiss public reject gold initiative
Referendum sees 77.3% of vote against forcing the SNB to hold 20% of its assets in gold, and prevent it from ever selling them; central bank welcomes the result
ECB statistics chief calls for greater co-operation on data reporting
Aurel Schubert says crisis exposed bank's traditional aggregated statistics as ‘insufficient for comprehensive analysis'; new approach needs to avoid double reporting
Swiss National Bank relocates staff in Berne office renovation
Around 120 staff at the Swiss National Bank will be relocated to rented office space for three years, as the central bank’s Berne office is renovated
ECB research explores use of NSFR as macro-pru tool
Economists consider how the net stable funding ratio could be used to tackle the build-up of systemic liquidity risks; research is still at an early stage
People: BoE poaches IMF researcher; Nigeria's central bank deputy stands down
Michael Kumhof leaves the IMF to join the Bank of England as senior research advisor; Kingsley Moghalu leaves the Central Bank of Nigeria after five years; and more
Central Bank of Ireland plans staff increase
Governor Patrick Honohan says creation of SSM and new international regulations create ‘more work’ for the central bank; staff will increase by roughly 100 in 2015
Richmond Fed economist sees obstacles to Islamic finance in the US
Islamic finance in the US suffers from poor liquidity and problems meshing with the regulatory environment, researcher says
New payments regulator in UK may have uneasy relationship with BoE
Treasury committee highlights potential for conflicting objectives between newly formed payments regulator and the Bank of England; Tyrie says independence ‘pretty heavily circumscribed’
Malaysian banks will use cheque fees to incentivise electronic payments
To reduce the use of cash and cheques in the financial system, Bank Negara Malaysia is introducing a scheme whereby cheque fees will be used to incentivise e-payments
ECB fears ‘abrupt reversal’ of global search for yield
Central bank says an end to the hunt for yield is the main threat to financial stability in the eurozone; Constâncio concerned by impact on investors’ balance sheets
Ukraine gets new deputy in leadership reshuffle
Vladyslav Rashkovan promoted to acting deputy governor after just seven months at the central bank; board membership expanded to include head of personnel
Central banks weighing the benefits of bitcoin
Digital or ‘crypto’ currencies are controversial among central banks, but some see merits in their use and a few may even issue their own; more digital currency innovation likely in future
Constâncio wants to ‘broaden’ European macro-prudential toolkit
ECB vice-president wants a broader macro-prudential toolkit to help smooth the financial cycle, including new instruments for the shadow banking sector
PBoC action ‘lays foundation’ for liberalisation
Central bank emphasises movement towards interest rate liberalisation, saying last week’s rate cut was designed to combine financial reform and monetary policy
EC vice-president urges ECB to play its part in historic investment push
Jyrki Katainen highlights need for policy co-ordination as public-private EU investment fund is announced; ECB's Constâncio suggests no decision on QE in December
Norges Bank's Olsen sees dangers in too much transparency
Governor Øystein Olsen tells Central Banking that giving too much detail to the public might generate more questions than useful insight; defends tradition of not publishing minutes
Bank of Portugal gets new powers to assess bank directors
Bankers’ current court cases and their personal business conduct are now also part of the Bank of Portugal's assessment of the banking system
Central Bank of Nigeria raises stakes with rate hike
Bank loosens grip on falling naira but governor ‘committed to stable exchange rate'; warns drop in oil price is permanent and depreciation could continue
BoJ minutes reveal fears of QE ‘side effects’
Minutes from meeting that saw central bank ramp up asset purchases reveal concerns among board members; Kuroda and Nakaso speak in defence of the policy
BoE officials defend use of labour market data in policy-making
Mark Carney and other top officials say labour market data quality is variable but always carefully examined; central bank may publish details of agents’ assessment of the economy
Malaysian banks working on a Swift rulebook for Islamic transactions
A Swift rulebook ‘will provide an efficient platform for the exchange of messages for Islamic finance transactions’, says governor of Bank Negara Malaysia
Riksbank study questions status of cash as legal tender
Researchers warn ‘lock-in effect' may inhibit market participants from exploiting more efficient payment methods
Bundesbank explores macro-prudential framework
Claudia Buch says the central bank is 'looking into' what needs to be done to provide a legal basis for macro-prudential policy; Bundesbank releases financial stability review
BoE picks Deloitte to review RTGS failure
Consultancy firm to conduct investigation into outage in real-time gross settlement system that saw system break down for several hours