Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
BIS authors spot structural break in bank financing
Research identifies turning point in how banks fund themselves around 2008, with greater reliance on branches and subsidiaries
Politics now driving markets more than central banks – BIS review
“Precipitous decline” in correlations implies markets no longer in thrall to central bank policy; US dollar credit still on the rise despite MMF reform; tensions in Chinese markets
Interest rate effects weaker at low levels – Borio and Gambacorta
Supply of loans becomes less responsive to policy rate movements when interest rates are already very low, likely due to impact on bank profits, authors say
Caruana: financial globalisation is not over
BIS chief says “peak finance” has not arrived, despite signs of a slowdown in global banking activity; warns against inward-looking policy-making
BIS creates DLT analytical framework for central banks
CPMI working group lays out important questions for central banks when implementing distributed ledger tech for payments and settlement; access is a key concern
Tax cuts affect bank leverage and liabilities – BIS paper
Tax cuts have different effects on different banks, authors find; better-capitalised banks increase their assets, while weaker ones clean up their balance sheets
Carstens agrees to stay at Bank of Mexico until December
Following a meeting with the Mexican president and finance minister, the governor will stay until end-November; BIS board approves the arrangement with general manager Caruana to stay until December
Basel III has aided system stability, interbank models suggest
Model predicts future crashes will not be total wipeout
BIS paper tracks US and eurozone QE spillovers
Shadow rates approach helps authors show US QE spilled across borders more strongly, though impact differed between countries
Capital account management could prevent ‘commodity curse’, BIS paper shows
Authors suggest options for small open economies dealing with commodity booms; solutions could prevent reductions in welfare and support the tradable sector
BIS authors design game of asset managers
Authors model effects of cash hoarding and investor runs, finding that “hoarding is the rule, rather than the exception”, with implications for stress testing
Forex code working group liaising with regulators – Debelle
Many regulators are interested in understanding how the code could be used to monitor market activity, working group chairman says; both FCA and Asic are in talks
BIS authors identify tipping point in household debt impact
Researchers trace the effects of household debt on the real economy, identifying thresholds beyond which the long-run impact on consumption and growth intensifies
Cross-border claims shifting in favour of non-banks
BIS international banking statistics show claims on banks fell in third quarter of 2016 but claims on non-banks continued to grow
BIS paper finds Fed’s QE had little discernible impact on real economy
Results are still preliminary, authors say, but “cast some doubt” on the effectiveness of US quantitative easing
BIS paper presents evidence on Uruguayan price setting
Authors develop survey-based measure of firms’ price-setting behaviour, which may prove useful for research on other emerging markets
Review urges BIS to curb dominance of ‘house view’ in research
Panel including UK’s Charlie Bean finds BIS research has at times been “genuinely path-breaking” but should give economists more room to differ from the house view
BIS fails to find single cause of sterling ‘flash crash’
Report finds “numerous” factors which amplified the effects of the depreciation, including “inexperience staff” and “fragile” market conditions; lessons must be learned, BIS warns
BIS paper flags importance of “multi-layered” bank networks
Authors go beyond aggregate exposures to reveal “multiplex” interbank networks, which could allow more tailored policymaking
Global value chains increasingly driving global inflation – BIS paper
Growth of global value chains limits the importance of domestic factors in creating inflation, complicating the jobs of central banks
Completing reform agenda may not be enough – Caruana
BIS chief urges continuous effort to finish reforms, but says they need to be backed by policies that raise earning and debt-repayment capacities
New data sheds light on policy spillover channels – BIS paper
Expanded data published by the BIS show how US dollar, euro and yen affect cross-border lending flows
People: RBI’s new deputy gains BIS scholarship; Mozambique names deputy
Reserve Bank of India appoints BIS scholarship winner to deputy post; Victor Gomes takes role at Bank of Mozambique; and more
2016: The year in review
The past year was characterised by dramatic political events, and central banks did not always manage to stay above the fray; we look back at some of the biggest stories