Europe
EU Parliament wants information on SWIFT
The European Parliament adopted a resolution on Thursday 6 July asking EU governments, the Commission and the European Central Bank to explain what they know about the SWIFT agreement.
Comment: LCH.Clearnet chief departs
After months of speculation that his days were numbered, David Hardy resigned as chief executive of LCH.Clearnet on 5 July. The announcement was met with an air of inevitability. The episode raises some fundamental questions about the European clearing…
Europe suffers worrying wave of financial chaos
According to this article published Wednesday 5 July by Bloomberg, Europe is increasingly encircled by financial woes. Emerging markets are being hit by a wave of selling, sending currencies falling and interest rates jumping.
IMF paper on impacts of non-adoption of the euro
The IMF Working Paper "Price impacts of non-adoption of the euro for small European countries" uses the Sjaastad model to analyze the price-making power of major currencies with regard to the prices of traded goods in small countries that have not…
Paper on European monetary policy
The paper "Is European monetary policy appropriate for the EMU member countries? A counterfactual analysis" analyses whether interest rate paths in the EMU member countries would have been different if the previous national central banks had not handed…
Comment: Eastern European tightrope
Amidst renewed inflation fears in the developed world and the prospects of further interest rate hikes there, a number of central banks in Eastern Europe and the Baltics will be silently grateful for a little bit of latitude. But with question marks…
Comment: Papademos on asset bubbles
In a speech in Madrid last week, the ECB vice-president, Lucas Papademos, drew a line of distinction between the ECB's policy on asset prices and that of the US Fed. In doing so he sought to communicate that the Issing legacy is firmly in tact.
ECB publishes SIPS report
On 31 May 2006, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) approved the "Business continuity oversight expectations for systemically important payment systems (SIPS)" report (published Friday 9 June).
Paper on monetary policy and asset prices
The University of Warwick Research Paper "Monetary policy and asset prices : What role for central banks in new EU member states?" deals with the relationship between monetary policy and asset prices.
Comment: Sharing the cost of banking crises
The need for an ex-ante commitment to sharing the cost of cross-border banking crises in Europe is suggested in a speech by Eva Srejber and a paper by Charles Goodhart and Dirk Schoenmaker. But is it feasible?
Buba's Weber on European financial integration
In the speech 'European financial integration and (its implications for) monetary policy' given on 23 May Axel Weber of the Deutsche Bundesbank said financial integration is a mostly beneficial process which is driven by market forces as well as…
Central bankers to hold panel meeting
Top central bankers from Europe, Japan and the United States will participate in a panel meeting in Washington on Monday 5 June.
IMF paper on the European single financial market
The IMF Working Paper "The lender of last resort in the European single financial market" published May 2006 examines challenges in effectively implementing the lender-of-last-resort function in the EU single financial market.
Enforcement and the stability and growth pact
The IMF Working Paper "Enforcement and the stability and growth pact: How fiscal policy did and did not change under Europe's fiscal framework" published May 2006, says that the Stability and Growth Pact has been a success in numerous EU countries,…
Trichet on why Europe needs structural reforms
In the speech 'Why Europe needs structural reforms' given on 24 April Jean-Claude Trichet of the ECB said the eurozone economy could grow nearly a percentage point faster each year if governments make markets more flexible.
Does the euro zone really need political union?
Seven years after the launch of the euro, this article published on Friday 21 April asks how much political union is needed to make monetary union work more effectively?
Tumpel-Gugerell on ECB, Italy & Eastern Europe
In the speech 'The European Central Bank, Italy and the integration of Eastern Europe' given on 31 March Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell of the ECB said the ECB's track record of containing inflation means that it does not have to hike interest rates…
Ireland's Hurley on monetary policy
In the speech 'Monetary policy and prospects for the European economy' given on 9 March (published 16 March) John Hurley of the Central Bank & Financial Services Authority of Ireland said the European Central Bank is ready to act as needed to keep down…
ECB's Bini Smaghi on financial market supervision
In the speech 'Independence and accountability of supervision in the european financial market' given on 9 March Lorenzo Bini Smaghi of the ECB said the increasing European financial integration poses difficult challenges for the institutional…
Rato sees world growth beating IMF forecast
According to the International Monetary Fund's managing director, world economic growth this year will exceed the current forecast of 4.3 percent thanks to a recovery in Europe and Japan.
ECB publication of an enhanced 'Blue Book'
The European Central Bank on Monday 6 March published a statistical addendum to the publication "Payment and securities settlement systems in the European Union and in the acceding countries" (known as the "Blue Book") incorporating 2004 data.
HKMA's Yam on the euro
In the speech 'The euro: Lessons for European and Asian financial markets' given on 24 February Joseph Yam of the HKMA said the integration of financial markets in the Asia-Pacific region can be accelerated if financial and monetary authorities in the…
Macroeconomic challenges with EU accession
The IMF Working Paper "Macroeconomic challenges with EU accession in Southeastern Europe: An overview" published February 2006 reviews key macroeconomic challenges with EU accession in Southeastern Europe (SEE).
OECD's Cotis worried over Europe's growth prospect
OECD Chief Economist Jean-Philippe Cotis said on Tuesday 21 February that European economic growth has been slowed by poor fiscal policies and weak channels of transmission for monetary policy.