Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ)
People: RBNZ’s Bascand takes new role; Lithuanian deputy reappointed
Geoff Bascand becomes head of financial stability; Raimondas Kuodis gets a second term; Bank of Israel promotes two officials
Central Bank of Iceland picks SIA for payments overhaul
RTGS revamp will see a single system handle both high- and low-value payments; Italy-headquartered SIA wins contract
New Zealand government reviews monetary policy process
Opposition pledges it will make major changes to central bank mandate if elected
RBNZ paper develops ‘intuitive and reliable’ output gap measure
Authors turn to a “Beveridge-Nelson filter” to produce an output gap estimate that performs better than those produced by other filtering techniques
RBNZ paper sets out new house price indexes
Improved dataset allows design of three new indexes, all of which produce “credible-looking” outcomes
RBNZ to rethink capital requirements
Review will reassess country’s approach to Basel III implementation, after Australia decides to bolster its banks’ capital to be “unquestionably strong”
The winners of the 2017 Central Banking Awards
Bank of England wins Central Bank of the Year, while Carlos Fernández Valdovinos picks up Governor of the Year; Donald Kohn receives Lifetime Achievement Award; 15 more awards unveiled
RBNZ’s Wheeler: policy now has ‘neutral bias’
Risks to future rate movements “equally weighted”, governor says, though plenty of domestic and global risks could knock the outlook off course
RBNZ presses ahead with dashboard plan, despite bank concerns
Banks raise fears over the dashboard plan to publish disclosures on RBNZ website, but the central bank says it believes it can address all the concerns
Valdovinos is victorious in the first set of Central Banking’s 2017 awards
Paraguay’s governor Carlos Fernández Valdovinos scoops Governor of the Year; RBNZ’s Leo Krippner wins Economics; three more market practitioner awards announced
Economics in central banking: Leo Krippner
His work on term structure modelling has helped central bank policy-makers to track the effects of unconventional policies and it raises many interesting possibilities for future research
Graeme Wheeler to stand down this year
RBNZ governor will not seek a second term; deputy to take interim role as succession process complicated by elections
RBNZ paper sheds light on core macro model
'NZSIM' is a semi-structural model, with a DSGE core augmented with a handful of additional equations
People: RBNZ appoints new CIO; former BoE deputy to chair BBC
Reserve Bank of New Zealand appoints new CIO and head of risk assessment; David Clementi, former Bank of England deputy for financial stability, to head new BBC board; and more
New Zealand central bank asks for more macro-prudential powers
Capital’s housing prices "among the highest in the world", report says; heightened debt levels among farmers leave sector "vulnerable to future shocks"
Australasia has avoided stagnation trend – RBNZ’s Bascand
Different household behaviour in Australia and New Zealand appears to have contributed to higher growth and investment
RBNZ delivers rate cut as exchange rate strength persists
Board reaffirmed move in light of Trump victory, but cut has been in the offing for some time as NZ dollar strength holds down inflation
RBNZ’s Spencer sees need for better approach to FMI oversight
The framework, if put into legislation, would give the central bank and markets authority new powers of information-gathering and oversight
RBNZ moves to publish policy rate forecasts
Central bank scraps forecasts of 90-day bank bill rate as relationship with policy rate has been affected by global regulatory changes
Further policy easing will be required – RBNZ assistant governor
Another rate cut on the cards despite improved inflation outlook, says McDermott, emphasising need for accommodative monetary policy to push inflation to middle of target range
‘Significant progress’ on infrastructure overhaul – RBNZ annual report
Past year saw progress on replacement RTGS system, decision on new securities clearing system and the start of a project to modernise Treasury functions
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
RBNZ floats idea of bank regulatory dashboard
Bringing regulatory disclosures together in one place could impose market discipline and allow more straightforward comparison of risks, central bank says
RBNZ tweaks LVR rules following consultation
New rules to apply to investors nationwide, placing 5% “speed limit” for lending above LVRs of 60%; proposed new measures to come into force in October due to banks’ deadline concerns