Federal Reserve System
Meltzer accuses Fed of three ‘major’ errors
Writing in the Central Banking Journal, Allan Meltzer argues the Fed continued QE for too long, while relying too heavily on ‘noisy’ data and too little on monetary and credit aggregates
New York Fed unveils new way to calculate funds rate
Central bank plans to base the rate on a new dataset that captures a broader range of market activity; move likely to happen in about a year’s time
Fed’s Tarullo casts doubt on counter-cyclical tools
Daniel Tarullo questions ability of macro-prudential tools to temper booms and busts, and calls for a new ‘prudential market regulation’ to tackle shadow banking risks
Fed’s Powell: Virtual currencies ‘not ready’ for role in payments reform
Governor Jerome Powell says virtual currencies could play a ‘bigger role’ in the future, but are not yet ‘mature enough’ to contribute to the Fed’s faster payments initiative
Upbeat Fed statement keeps mid-year rate hike alive
Federal Reserve keeps policy on hold but delivers a positive account of US economy, suggesting inflation will return to target over medium term despite oil price drop
Fed challenges payments industry to get quicker and safer
New document sets out strategies for improving US payment system; Federal Reserve will only consider expanding role as service provider if private sector falls short
Eichengreen says central banks should worry more about deflation than 'profits and losses'
The Berkeley professor on what last week's SNB move says about big central banks 'wrong-footing' markets and the Fed's problematic response to financial crisis
Obstfeld warns emerging markets face dual trilemmas
BIS working paper dissects emerging markets’ ability to resist monetary policy spill-overs, finding the demands of monetary and financial trilemmas make self-defence difficult or impossible
Lagarde: Divergent monetary policy could be a good thing
It could be 'helpful' for the global economy if the ECB eases more as the Fed starts tightening, Lagarde tells an audience in Davos; Summers warns eurozone QE not 'sufficient'
Fed’s Powell offers support for ‘ambitious’ BoE review
Jerome Powell points to the importance of reflecting on structural changes in the fixed-income, currency and commodities markets
Fed sets up permanent community advisory council
First advisory council since the 1980s set up as Federal Reserve fights claims that its policies are benefiting wealthy investors at the expense of middle-income households
Plosser: Regular monetary reports would force FOMC to ‘think more deeply’
Philadelphia Fed president Charles Plosser sets out why the Federal Reserve should publish a quarterly monetary policy report – part of which he and colleagues have already modelled
People: Philadelphia Fed gets new directors; Paraguay central banker named finance minister
Jon Evans and Carol Johnson are appointed to the Philadelphia Fed board of directors; Central Bank of Paraguay loses member of the board of directors to the government; and more
Fed earns $116bn on QE assets in 2014
Regional Fed banks transfer just under $100bn in earnings to US Treasury, a 27% increase on the previous year; operating expenses totalled $3.6bn
Fed signals rate hike despite drop in inflation
Minutes suggest Fed will tighten policy despite expecting inflation to remain below target for 'some time'; rate hike unlikely for 'at least the next couple of meetings'
Obama to nominate community banker to Fed board of governors
Move follows bipartisan criticism against the prevalence of academics in the US central bank's top ranks; Fed announces new head of monetary affairs
Bernanke laments scripted policy meetings
Former Fed chair tells Mervyn King that meetings are ‘deadly boring’ as most of the work is done in advance; both men reflect on the crisis for BBC Radio 4’s Today programme
2014: The year in review
The past year has seen central banks across the globe grapple with reform, at an institutional and global level – we look back at the biggest stories of 2014
Fed changes forward guidance
Janet Yellen says FOMC ‘can be patient' in normalising monetary policy, but says new language does not signal change in outlook; Fisher, Plosser and Kocherlakota dissent
Bank of Israel researchers propose exchange rate-based forward guidance
Researchers say forward guidance has a mixed track record, especially in small open economies, but linking guidance to external factors would help improve credibility
Fischer questions FSB's democratic credentials
Fed vice-chair says Basel body not democratic ‘in a certain sense' but still a ‘great success'; argues it was set up specifically to circumvent IMF bureaucracy
Kocherlakota announces Fed departure
Minneapolis Fed president and FOMC dove to step down when his term draws to a close in February 2016
Women still hold less than 10% of top jobs
Central banks continue to become 'more equal employers' in 2014, but only 18 of 189 institutions are led by women
Fed proposes tougher capital surcharges on biggest banks
US central bank aims to go beyond Basel framework on loss-absorbing requirements for GSIBs; Failure to comply would lead to restrictions on dividends and bonuses