News
Norwegian SWF plans $27bn expansion into real estate
New focus on real estate investments part of Norway's sovereign wealth fund strategy through 2016, which will see it hire 230 more staff and employ more external managers
Carney clashes with parliamentarians over ‘unreliable' forward guidance
BoE governor defends suggestion earlier this month that interest rates could rise this year as MP likens central bank to ‘unreliable boyfriend' over changing guidance
Central banks test ‘dry ice' banknote cleaning technology
Banks to test whether ‘supercritical' CO2 can rid notes of filth without damaging security features; central banks spend $10 billion to replace 150 billion banknotes each year
Financial stability reports to become ‘a lot more important’
New research highlights ‘sizeable effects’ of financial stability reports on stock markets; speeches have become more influential since the crisis but this is unlikely to last
Reserve managers look to exit bonds sooner as global ‘taper' looms
Fed taper has reserve managers fretting, new Central Banking Publications survey of 69 central banks shows; ETFs are gaining traction as reserve asset class
Macro-prudential research builds ‘analytical foundation’ for EU policy
A European System of Central Bank’s research network reports on four years of work; Vitor Constâncio says policy-makers will still need ‘trial-and-error approaches’
Marek Belka seems secure as Poland’s political crisis shifts focus
Crisis precipitated by central bank governor’s secretly recorded comments threatened to bring down the government, but may now blow over
People: Czech comms head moves to general secretariat; RBNZ board names new member
Czech National Bank appoints Marek Petruš to head general secretariat; Tania Simpson named as RBNZ director; New Zealand SWF gets new CIO; Bank of Russia Moscow head on the move
Riksbank calls on Mervyn King for monetary policy review
Former BoE governor will head up a review, with Marvin Goodfriend, of Sweden's increasingly controversial monetary policy
Reserve managers to ‘reconnect’ with their central bank, says Bill Allen
Former BoE official says central bankers will become ‘more conscious’ of the relationship between reserve management activities and financial stability issues in Central Banking On Air debate
Central Bank of Colombia goes for more detailed minutes
New minutes include more detail about board members' policy views that ‘on occasion may reveal the institution's future policy inclination', according to central bank
IMF says ECB should 'consider' buying eurozone government debt
International Monetary Fund encourages European Central Bank to launch large-scale asset purchase programme if inflation ‘remains stubbornly low’
Swiss National Bank mulls negative rates to follow ECB
Swiss National Bank governor says ‘closely monitoring' the effect of the ECB's move to negative rates; new measures may be needed to cool housing market
Bulgarian deputy governor takes leave from bank to fight misconduct prosecution
Bulgarian deputy for banking supervision fights allegations of turning a blind eye to a privately-owned bank exceeding lending limits to sister companies
Ukraine parliament appoints new central bank governor
Ukraine central bank governor Stepan Kubiv replaced with investment banker Valeria Gontareva after parliament approves presidential bill
Bank of England MPC minutes reveal surprise over dovish market expectations
BoE minutes show MPC members expected markets to price in earlier rate hike despite bank's vow to keep them low for extended period of time
BoE's newest MPC member defends limited experience of ‘core' issues
Kristin Forbes says her knowledge of international capital flows brings ‘direct expertise to the UK'; describes herself as someone willing to break ranks
Basel committee revisits 2002 guidance on 'weak banks'
Update to BCBS guidelines is the first since long before the financial crisis; Ingves says ‘early identification and intervention by supervisors is critical'
Ukraine president moves to replace central bank chief
Newly elected president of Ukraine puts bill before parliament to replace central bank governor Stepan Kubiv with investment banker Valeria Gontareva
PBoC approves direct trading between renminbi and sterling
The pound will become only the fifth currency that can be directly exchanged with the yuan; People’s Bank of China names China Construction Bank as renminbi clearing bank in London
Luxembourg central bank accuses government of withholding statistics
Central Bank of Luxembourg says it will not be able to honour its commitment to publish a ‘thorough analysis’ of public finances this month because it cannot access the data it needs
Rajan: RBI ‘could give up’ some powers
Reserve Bank of India should retain its regulatory powers, Rajan says, but it could cede part of its debt management role to the government ‘without any loss in welfare’
Expanding SWF forum to fly IMF nest and land in London next month
International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds welcomes new members ahead of relocation from the IMF's headquarters to its own premises in London in July
Russia returns to floating ruble strategy as Ukraine pressure cools
Bank of Russia has reduced the amount it will intervene to prop up the ruble, signalling an easing of geopolitical pressure on the currency