Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA)
Volatile housing market puts RBA under pressure
Variations in housing growth and prices ramp up risk to financial stability, RBA minutes show; regulator to consider further measures “if needed”
RBA opens new ‘highly secure’ banknote vault
Australian central bank makes first investment in banknote storage and distribution in over a decade; Lowe says public have come to “rely” on “secure and high-quality” banknotes
Debelle sets timeframe for adoption of forex global code
Market participants will have six to 12 months to adjust practices once the code is published on May 25
New forex code will not be a set of rules – Debelle
New code of conduct will force participants to think about their actions, Debelle says; rules are easier to “arbitrage” than principles
RBA’s Ellis examines the central banking community’s gender problem
RBA makes changes to processing candidate applications to remove unconscious bias, Ellis says; central bank recognises women face challenges when entering economics
RBA’s Bullock says central banks are ready to ‘take action’
Old school of thought regarding asset bubbles abandoned following financial crisis; macro-prudential tools are helping policymakers “clean up”
RBA paper assesses FOMC’s forecasting performance
RBA and Fed economists collaborate on study of forecasting errors by the Federal Open Market Committee
External review of the RBA to begin next month – Lowe
Governor tells MPs the central bank wants to identify opportunities for improvement; assessment will look into operation and administration, not policy framework
Uncertainty about momentum in the labour market – RBA minutes
“Mixed” picture in Australian labour market shows unemployment increasing alongside full-time employment; spare capacity likely to persist “for some time”
New Australian $10 to feature works of native authors
RBA launches second banknote in new series, celebrating native authors; new note will feature similar security elements to new A$5 launched last year
RBA’s Ellis: cross-country and micro-factors matter for housing
The assistant governor sees country-specific and micro-factors as important to understanding the diversity of outcomes in the housing market
RBA to ‘pay close attention’ to housing market in 2017 – Lowe
Rent growth remains weak but vacancy rates are not high, RBA governor says; households and banks are currently taking the right approach to the environment
People: Central banks of Spain and Afghanistan appoint new deputy governors
Career central banker Javier Alonso promoted to deputy in Spain, Bank of Afghanistan names new first deputy governor, and more
People: Slovenia gets new deputy; ECB appoints new member to financial stability council
Slovenian parliament appoints new deputy to central bank; ECB chooses Finnish deputy governor to sit on financial stability council
RBA paper asks why companies fail
Researchers find specific features of Australian companies make them more likely to fail
People: RBA names two new assistant governors; Barbadian deputy governor retires
Luci Ellis and Lindsay Boulton appointed assistant governors at the Reserve Bank of Australia amid reshuffle; Harold Codrington departs Barbadian central bank after 37 years of service; and more
Lowe stresses the importance of financial buffers
“Skimping” on buffers is not worth the risk, says RBA governor, stressing stronger ones promote stability and prosperity
RBA paper finds it is hard to pinpoint US productivity slowdowns
Break in productivity growth trend in US appears to have happened in early 1970s, although beliefs took three decades to fully adjust, authors find
Central clearing boosts welfare but margin matters – RBA paper
Study shows how central counterparties boost welfare by insuring against counterparty credit risk, but gains are sensitive to the level of margin
RBA seeks to gain ‘additional’ insight into wages – Lowe
Central bank teams up with statistical agency to gain insight into declining wage patterns; frequency of wage increases is decreasing, says RBA governor
Australia’s real-time payment system to go live in 2017 – Lowe
Test payments already being settled on new real-time payments platform, says RBA governor; fast settlement service set to undergo industry testing this month
People: RBNZ appoints new board chair; reshuffle of senior management at Australian central bank
Reserve Bank of New Zealand replaces board of directors’ chair after 10 years at bank; assistant governors swap roles at the RBA as the bank looks to hire new talent; and more
RBA’s Lowe: we are not ‘inflation nutters’
Philip Lowe underscores central bank’s “balanced” approach to controlling inflation in his first public appearance as RBA governor, and highlights other initiatives
RBA’s Heath highlights changing nature of Australian workforce
Automation, ageing population and decline of industry are reshaping the labour market’s demand for skills, head of economic analysis says, with lessons for central bank recruiting