Opinion
Our outdated global monetary regime must go
From its roots in post-war reconstruction, the current international monetary system has evolved into a regime fundamentally unsuited to the realities of today's global economy. But it cannot last, writes Ousmene Mandeng
Are Libor spreads near the new normal?
A decline in interbank spreads shows confidence is returning. But, the margins at which spreads settle are likely to reveal much about how the crisis has changed the face of finance for years to come, Claire Jones, the editor of CentralBanking.com, says.
A guide for an ideal communique
For Marc Uzan, an executive director on the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee, the perfect G20 communique would note the long-term ramifications of the crisis.
A solution to the reserves riddle
There has been an anomaly between what is in the national interest and what is in the global interest on the issue of reserves. However, this does not have to be so.
A proposal to aid emerging-market stability
Ousmene Mandeng, the head of public sector investment advisory at Ashmore, an asset management firm, believes there is a more efficient way for emerging market central banks to use their reserves to stave off a disorderly unwinding of their capital…
Cooperation between leaders and banks essential
As the world responds to financial and economic turmoil, the industry and authorities must work together as never before, says Angela Knight, the chief executive of the British Bankers' Association (BBA).
Bring back Glass-Steagall?
Suddenly, everybody is talking again about separating merchant banking from commercial banking. Ideas that a few months ago might have been dismissed as crackpot - bringing back a version of the Glass-Steagall legislation - now look as if they were ahead…
How the US can abate anger at bankers' bail-out
Brendan Brown, the chief economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, offers two remedies to temper public outrage at the bail-out of Wall Street.
Taking Santiago forward: a 12-point plan
Sven Behrendt, an associate scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, presents a blueprint for a 12-point action plan on how the International Working Group of Sovereign Wealth Funds could move forward with the industry code of conduct…
Media inaccurate in portrayal of CEE's plight
Miroslav Singer, a vice governor at the Czech National Bank, tells CentralBankNews.com why the media's recent treatment of the problems in central and eastern Europe bears scant resemblance to the reality in some countries in the region.
This was always a crunch to be fought on 2 fronts
Charles Wyplosz, a professor at the Graduate Institute, Geneva, and an occasional consultant to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, tells CentralBankNews.com why reviving banks' health was always going to take more than capital injections.
Payments systems and the crisis
Ron Berndsen, who heads the payments oversight department at the Dutch central bank, assesses the impact of the crisis on the financial "plumbing".
A setback for European payments
Terry Dirienzo, product and marketing director for Experian Payments, a consultancy, bemoans a French suspension of work on the Single Euro Payments Area (Sepa).
National regulators must revise Basel II
National regulators need only make a small change to the Basel II framework to avoid future government recapitalisations. It is essential that they do so, say Samuel Sender and Noel Amenc, two researchers at France's EDHEC business school.
Why we must say no to nationalisation
In the UK, nationalisation is increasingly being advocated by many experts as a solution to the banking crisis. Such a step would be a disaster for the UK and the City of London, argues Robert Pringle, the editor-in-chief of Central Banking journal.
Mary Schapiro: Here Comes the Sun
In recent months, the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) has been on the receiving end of severe criticism. Mark Berman, a former SEC lawyer who leads CompliGlobe Ltd, a London-based consultancy specialising in financial regulation and…
London's lifelines lack coherence
The dangerously mixed messages underlying the British government's rescue attempts threaten to derail efforts to secure stability, argues Robert Pringle, the editor-in-chief of Central Banking journal.
A note from El Salvador
The dollarisation of El Salvador's economy has brought relative calm to the Central American economy. But it will not be able to completely avoid the collateral damage from a slump in the United States, says Steve H. Hanke, a professor of applied…
What's behind the fear of intervention?
Central banks' unwillingness to defend their currencies' value through foreign-exchange intervention despite abundant dollar reserves highlights a fear of intervening. Such a fear should lead central banks to review why they hold reserves, says Ousmene…
3 problems that could befall the president's men
President-elect Barack Obama has assembled an all-star economics team. But potential pitfalls remain despite the players' pedigree, Malan Rietveld, the assistant editor of Central Banking journal, notes.