News
Irish plan for distressed borrowers attracts criticism
Central Bank of Ireland encourages cooperation between lenders of secured and unsecured debt to keep distressed borrowers from bankruptcy; Irish League of Credit Unions denounces scheme
BIS: Forex OTC markets hold steady, despite regulatory uncertainty
Semi-annual BIS survey reveals a rise in forex OTC derivatives transactions in the second half of last year
Israel cuts rates and buys forex in moves to ward off ‘Dutch disease'
Unscheduled monetary policy decision by Bank of Israel cuts base rate 25bp as central bank launches a forex purchase programme to hold the shekel down after gas finds
Omani central bank unveils SME measures
All banks operating in Oman will have to allocate 5% of credit portfolios to SMEs; prudential and collateral requirements relaxed to encourage lending
Sri Lanka cuts rates 50bp in defiance of IMF advice
Central bank cuts benchmark interest rate by 50bp to 7% as growth stutters and inflation falls; IMF warned yesterday against ‘further easing of monetary policy in the near term'
Iceland’s Guðmundsson backs MAS-style stability model
Icelandic governor says managed float and strong supervision are important lessons to be taken from Singapore; says capital controls helped avoid a default in Iceland, but should not be used lightly
Plosser warns US regulations could cause unnecessary bail-outs
Philadelphia Fed president says existing efforts to end too-big-to-fail may ‘come up short' and advocates a more rules-based approach; criticises Basel III risk weights
Banks push alternative to Basel Committee securitisation model
Basel proposals would kill European market, banks warn – and some regulators sympathise
Central Bank of Nigeria hits back at ‘unfounded and mischievous’ reports
Central bank denies reports that it destroyed documents demanded in a hearing of the Nigerian parliament’s Public Accounts Committee
European Parliament poised to approve next step in banking union
European political groupings have reached agreement on a text for the recovery and resolution piece of Europe's planned banking union
People: New director-general at Bank of Italy; Bank of Israel adviser ends 30-year tenure
Salvatore Rossi becomes Bank of Italy's director-general; Barry Topf leaves Bank of Israel after 30 years; and more
IMF paper scrutinises ‘procyclicality’ in reserve management
Over half of central bank reserve managers surveyed by IMF say they would alter practices to reduce procyclicality; paper questions reliance on credit rating agencies
Australian regulators unveil criteria for mandatory clearing
Three regulators, including the RBA, reveal how they will decide whether and when to implement mandatory clearing requirements for OTC derivatives
European rates: UK and Norway on hold as Denmark and Poland cut
Bank of England marks time ahead of Mark Carney’s arrival and Norges Bank keeps policy steady, while Denmark and Poland take action
Korean rate cut follows global trend but takes analysts by surprise
Base rate cut of 25 basis points by Bank of Korea aims to boost inflation and employment, and halt the Korean currency's rise against the yen
Asmussen and Rehn sketch plans for European body to replace ‘troika'
ECB board member defends scale of emergency liquidity extended to ‘insolvent' Cypriot banks; confirms the bank has an open mind on ABS purchases to ease SME credit crunch
RBI sees scope for Giro payments system
Committee finds India’s existing payments system fails to meet consumers’ needs when paying bills; proposes a supplementary system to move bill paying onto a single interoperable platform
Philippines central bank braces for impact of rating upgrades
Central bank says it is ‘vigilant’ to asset bubbles resulting from country’s upgrade to investment grade status by two of the three main rating agencies
Former BoE policy-makers demand action from Mark Carney
John Gieve says Carney is likely to introduce conditional forward guidance and expand QE; Rachel Lomax backs FPC remit that requires a “consistent message” among its members
RBNZ intervenes in forex and hits bank capital
Central bank boosts mortgage lending capital requirements and sells New Zealand dollars to ‘take the tops off rallies’; economy faces low inflation but strong dollar and overheating housing market
UK regulator right to retain flexibility to force changes on internal models
Head of the PRA plans to use early warning indicators in supervisory work, notwithstanding the risk of EU challenge
European Commissioner defends under-fire Tobin tax
Algirdas Šemeta says the European Commission’s proposal for a financial transactions tax is ‘technically and legally sound’; numerous stakeholders concerned by impact on repo markets
Dijsselbloem defends Eurogroup over Cyprus bail-in plan
Eurogroup president fields questions from European Parliament and defends the original Cyprus plan; refuses to name names over who proposed levy on smaller depositors
Bank of Estonia scraps new payments system
Plans for new interbank retail payments system are dropped due to a lack of popularity among commercial banks; hunt for a set-up compliant with Sepa requirements continues