News
People: Mexican deputy gets second term; Paraguay names new director
Mexican president reappoints Legaspi as deputy governor of Bank of Mexico; Central Bank of Paraguay promotes legal unit manager to director; and more
ECB health check ‘putting strains’ on Cyprus central bank
IMF staff report finds the operational capacity of the Central Bank of Cyprus is being stretched by the transition to the SSM, including the ECB's comprehensive assessment
Angolan central bank looks to boost BESA capital by $4.3 billion
National bank of Angola sets out plans to recapitalise BESA; Novo Banco will get a 9.9% stake in the bank and receive $850 million over ten years in restructuring deal
Failure to improve culture will be punished, say Dudley and Tarullo
Fed officials say banks that fail to improve culture will face regulatory sanctions, including the possibility of being ‘dramatically downsized and simplified’
Fears surface over lack of trust among resolution authorities
Countries still do not trust one another enough to cooperate fully during the resolution of a globally systemic bank, participants at Chatham House event warn
West African countries take stock of ‘capacity building project’
The West African Monetary Institute is hiring an external consultant to review the $2 million project, as it works towards establishing second monetary union in region
Carney launches review into RTGS failure
Independent review will look into ‘technical issue’ that knocked RTGS system out of operation yesterday, and consider the central bank’s response
Constâncio says ECB needs new tools to tackle shadow banking risks
Vice-president says central bank will need a broader arsenal to cope with risks in the shadow banking sector, suggesting the US and UK both have powers that could be useful
Bank of England resumes settlement after 'technical issue’
UK’s high-value payment system was ‘paused’ for several hours today, but is now back up and running; central bank extends opening hours to deal with backlog
Philippines central bank raises minimum capital requirements
The Central Bank of the Philippines has raised banks’ minimum capital level while unveiling new credit risk management rules that limit the collateral value of real estate mortgages
ECB taking minutes leak ‘very seriously’
Quotes from governing council discussions between May 2012 and January 2013 appear in press; reveal Jens Weidmann’s concerns over ELA provided to Cypriot bank
Andrew Sheng says international monetary system is fundamentally flawed
Former chairman of Securities and Futures Commission says the world is breaking up into national currency blocks, and the revival of ‘Cold War 2.0’ makes it difficult to fix
Ecuador applies 0.5% tax on credit transactions to finance cancer care
A new regulatory body in Ecuador that counts the central bank governor as a member has devised the tax as a means of fulfilling social responsibilities
BoE’s Bailey slams European bonus caps
Deputy governor expresses ‘dismay’ at debate that misses what he sees as key points in designing appropriate incentives; points to flaws in Basel capital standards
SBP launches shariah-compliant open market operations
Islamic banks in Pakistan will now have access to central bank liquidity operations; survey reveals strong demand for Islamic finance in the country, but coverage remains patchy
European Commission approves central bank’s BES intervention
Bankruptcy would have led to losses up to €28 billion; European Commission says central bank decision is ‘compatible with the internal market for reasons of financial stability’
Poloz recommends dropping forward guidance as conditions normalise
Bank of Canada governor suggests there are better ways of communicating when conditions normalise; most respondents to CentralBanking.com poll agree
CPMI-Iosco report recommends tools for recovering FMIs
Report lays out toolkit for maintaining critical services and restoring stability in the event a financial market infrastructure comes close to collapse
Top regulators seek to dispel myth of global regulatory harmonisation
Officials from IMF, Bank of England and US Treasury say perfect harmonisation is next to impossible; key now is a shift from design of standards to implementation
Bank of Russia to offer $50 billion through new FX repos
Russian central bank unveils new measures to boost short-term foreign exchange liquidity in markets, and will offer $50 billion between now and the end of 2016
ECB eases collateral requirements for Greek bonds as borrowing costs soar
European Central Bank says it will reduce the haircut it applies to Greek government bonds, but insists it is not an ‘ad hoc reaction’ to this week’s market stress
European Banking Authority unveils framework for classifying high-quality securitisations
Consultation proposes system for classifying securitisations that are ‘simple, standard and transparent’ and therefore may benefit from more lenient regulation
Riksbank gets new general council
Sweden's parliament names a new general council - the body is composed of MPs and tasked with overseeing the governance of the central bank
Central Bank of Brazil staff stage fifth walkout this year
‘Technical workers’ are seeking to defend their roles, which they feel are increasingly being handed to over-qualified ‘analysts’; Central bank says strike is not affecting its core activities