Bank of England (BoE)
Carney confident of returning inflation to target in two years
BoE governor sees risk that global low inflation and strength of UK currency could weigh on prices for ‘some time’, but is confident the central bank is ‘on track’ for 2% inflation
McCafferty: BoE is right to look through oil price decline
The sharp fall of oil prices will have a temporary impact on inflation, since ‘supply rather than demand has been the dominant factor’, says McCafferty
Carney: some shocks might warrant lower inflation target
BoE governor says persistent supply shock could justify a change in the inflation target, but stresses this is a ‘pure hypothetical’; optimistic over long-term picture for productivity
BoE draws lessons from Thomas Piketty
Income inequality has the potential to destabilise both financial and real sectors, and is increasingly garnering attention from central bankers, as the BoE’s quarterly bulletin highlights
UK fraud office probing Bank of England liquidity auctions
Bank of England liquidity auctions during the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008 are under investigation; Grabiner compiled an initial report before matter handed to SFO
Court rules against ECB in CCP case
European court finds ECB does not have authority to regulate securities clearing systems in the EU, upholding a UK plea against rules forcing CCPs to be located in the eurozone
Carney targets 'strategic’ approach to market intelligence
BoE governor Mark Carney sheds light on some of the recent changes to the way the central bank gathers market intelligence in Treasury Select Committee hearing
People: Blejer named adviser to Bank of Albania governor; Chile gets new statistics head
Mario Blejer, a former governor of Argentina’s central bank, will serve as an adviser to the new Bank of Albania governor; Central Bank of Chile names new statistics head; and more
Capital markets union must be carefully focused, say BoE researchers
Paper puts forward framework for analysing the myriad proposals under the umbrella of ‘capital markets union’, and argues they should be more targeted
BoE revamps market intelligence approach
New approach to include greater transparency and a new executive committee to oversee market intelligence, following concerns flagged by Grabiner Report
Climate change on BoE research agenda
Bank of England says research could examine how central banking can ‘play a role’ in addressing systemic environmental risks; conference panellists consider issue
BoE panellists: Central banks need better understanding of policy interactions
Policy-makers are already having to cope in practice with a ‘tripartite’ mandate while research struggles to catch up, raising the possibility of dangerous blind spots
BoE unveils wide-ranging research agenda
‘One Bank’ research agenda seeks to shake up the status quo and help theory catch up with the practice of new central bank mandates and looming challenges
Haldane wants to turn economic methodology on its head
BoE chief economist turns away from deductive methods and towards mining big data in search of correlations, but former ECB research director warns him to temper his enthusiasm
Forbes asks if BoE’s ‘Midas touch’ has been tarnished
MPC member says low interest rates carry various risks, including falling productivity and rising inequality, but argues the evidence is mixed and such factors are outside the BoE’s mandate
UK regulators flesh out proposed punishments for bankers
Consultation papers set out details of how presumption of responsibility will work in practice, including narrowed scope, and seek to extend greater protections to whistleblowers
BoE research finds high-frequency trading makes prices more efficient
High-frequency trading, although correlated, appears to be based on information and therefore helps markets form prices efficiently, working paper finds
Bank structure affects macro-prudential spillovers, BoE research finds
Working paper finds macro-prudential policies spill across borders more readily to bank branches than subsidiaries, although the change depends on type of lending and type of policy
BoE’s MPC members diverge on interest rate outlook
Only common ground between committee members is rates likely to rise ‘over the next three years’, as some see the potential for further easing while others want rate hike soon, minutes show
Haldane says ‘cocktail’ of psychology and sociology behind divergent growth
BoE chief economist draws on history, sociology and psychology – as well as economics – in seeking to explain why growth rates differ so widely
Poll: Should inflation targets be scrapped?
As advanced economies battle low inflation and interest rates remain constrained by the ZLB, should central banks rethink monetary policy orthodoxy?
Will new reforms lift the veil of secrecy at the Bank of England?
The Bank of England has unveiled a broad package of reforms to its transparency. Daniel Hinge speaks with transparency experts to assess the changes
Are central banks the ‘Figaro’ of the financial markets?
Central banks continue to play a vital position in the functioning of markets. While this raises significant concerns about moral hazard it is not an unfamiliar role from an historical perspective
BoE paper identifies issues in measuring ‘too big to fail’
Research assesses different approaches to measuring the scale of the ‘too big to fail’ problem, and finds none is without issues, but different approaches still identify effects