Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
BIS paper urges central banks to build their own financial buffers
Paper provides framework for central banks to assess the financial resources they should hold to protect themselves against losses; Jaime Caruana stresses importance of financial independence
BIS researchers fear separation rules could make banks harder to resolve
Recommendations from Vickers, Volcker and Liikanen examined in new paper focusing on implications for global banking business models
BIS committee hails Basel III progress
In report to G-20, the Basel committee says member countries are making ‘considerable progress’ implementing Basel III, despite long delays; laments ‘excessive’ variation in RWAs
BIS' Caruana warns low rate environment allows reforms to be postponed
BIS chief warns regulators may be 'fighting the last war', and calls for central bankers to push for 'a return to sustainable government finances'
BIS paper urges statistics expansion
Research tells policy-makers to take advantage of the ‘sense of urgency’ that follows financial crises to expand the data they collect, including more comprehensive information on banks
BIS report ‘takes stock' of central bank collateral policy developments
Central bank collateral policy has responded to financial market shocks in different ways, though common principles underpin new frameworks
BIS finds Singapore compliant with Basel III
Consistency assessment finds Singapore compliant in 12 areas and ‘largely compliant’ in remaining two; report notes 46 deviations were initially identified, but many were addressed during the review
Central banks can help promote reference rate choice, says BIS report
Bank for International Settlements working group finds money market appetite for adopting overnight reference rate; says central banks can help promote transparency
BIS says fundamentals lagging behind market sentiment
Quarterly review identifies ‘renewed sense of optimism’ in financial markets; also sees move away from safe havens to riskier assets as central bank easing continues
BIS researchers shine light into ‘dark’ FX markets
Working paper finds valuable information in foreign exchange order flows, giving large forex traders a significant competitive advantage
BIS paper urges inclusion of financial cycle in output gap calculation
Working paper warns ignoring the financial cycle when calculating the output gap can cause policy-makers to overlook unsustainable output movements
BIS paper urges policy-makers to consider co-ordinated bond strategy
Research finds effective response to a bond market crisis has become more difficult due to heavily laden central bank balance sheets, raising the need to better co-ordinate a crisis framework
BIS paper anatomises global liquidity
Study finds liquidity conditions are shaped by credit supply, credit demand, and monetary policy; financial crisis a product of all three
National Bank of Austria reshuffles governing board
Governor Ewald Nowotny reappointed for second term; executive director Peter Zöllner departs for BIS, and two new executive directors are chosen
BIS research identifies ways to smooth the financial cycle
Bank for International Settlements working paper designs model of financial cycles and examines the difficulties of reducing the size of their peaks and troughs
Central bank policies fuel asset price rise, says BIS
BIS quarterly review says monetary easing is helping to push investors into riskier assets despite a weakening global outlook.
CGFS report sets out framework for macro-prudential policy
Basel-based Committee on the Global Financial System (CGFS) report guides central banks on how macro-prudential instruments should be chosen, combined and employed
BIS’s Caruana warns of low interest rates risk
Jaime Caruana says low interest rates have created a ‘first-mover disadvantage’ that prevents rates rising and could fuel financial instability
Emerging market bonds behaving as safe assets, says BIS paper
Local government bond yields in emerging market economies have contracted as global risk sentiment worsens, study suggests
Collateral eligibility policy is neglected, says BIS paper
As number of assets accepted as collateral by ECB grows, so does the credit risk faced by Europe’s central bank
BIS’s Cecchetti envisages world without G-Sifis
Stephen Cecchetti says the global financial system needs to reach a stage where no banks are globally systemically important; market discipline critical to stability but not sufficient
Robert Pringle’s Viewpoint: Fixing banks and regulation
Central bank balance sheets are ballooning due to the failure of banking systems and new rules are unlikely to address the issue. Only a full legal separation of banking activities will do.
IMF meeting set to reinforce global pessimism
Governments need to take urgent policy action to capitalise on the ‘breathing space’ created by central banks. But few attending the IMF meeting in Tokyo believe law-makers are fit for the task
European Commission criticises Basel Committee findings
Assessment report finds EU and US ‘materially non-compliant’ with some areas of Basel framework; European Commission questions report’s methodology and use of evidence