Europe
Germany needs tighter fiscal policy, Nagel says
EU Stability and Growth Pact should have stricter fiscal rules, Bundesbank president argues
More rate hikes may be needed, says Bundesbank’s Nagel
German governor has a soft landing as his baseline scenario
Wallstreet and others rank highest for reserves technology services
Ion’s Wallstreet treasury system tops the 2023 rankings
Joachim Nagel on the ECB’s terminal rate, fiscal policy, model relevance and the digital euro
The Deutsche Bundesbank president speaks about compromise on the Governing Council, rolling back PEPP, the need to implement Basel III and the chances of a revised Stability and Growth Pact
Reserve managers rank JP Morgan top for custody and banking
BlackRock preferred for knowledge transfer and capacity building
Will the ECB take its key rate past 4%?
French and Spanish governors say policy is working, but Nagel warns pace is too slow
Reserve managers vote BlackRock as overall best asset manager
Goldman Sachs and “other” asset management firms also score highly
Stress-testing the banking system: what lies ahead?
Pedro Duarte Neves says stress tests must evolve to capture systemic, liquidity and cyber risks
High income countries less likely to tranche reserves
Overall, 72.4% of central banks divide their portfolios into liquidity and investment sections
‘Illiquid lemon markets’ can worsen crises – NBER paper
Authors extend George Akerlof’s Nobel prize-winning work to the macroeconomy
Fewer than half of reserve managers perform liquidity stress tests
Approach tends to be more common among African and American institutions
FX reserves commonly invested in US Treasuries, bank deposits
SIBs and EU NextGeneration fund trail behind, as reserve managers avoid infrastructure and crypto
Few central banks expanded existing swap lines over the past year
Nearly one-third of new and existing lines are denominated in US dollars
Trade in other currencies will reduce USD reserves share, say managers
Over 72% of respondents believe efforts to denominate trade in other currencies will have long-term effect
External managers hired to set up new asset classes and train staff
Central banks also look to external managers to boost returns and access market intelligence
Reserve managers cut duration as top inflation-proofing strategy
No respondent reports expansion into non-conventional assets
ECB raises rates to all-time high of 4%
Lagarde says “solid majority” supported raise but says some members opposed it
Boards responsible for benchmark approval at most central banks
Over half of lower-middle income respondents favour investment committee over other methods
ECB criticises Italy’s windfall tax on banks
Central bank warns measure could hamper monetary transmission and weaken lenders
ECB nominates Bundesbank’s Buch as new head of supervision
Governing council votes for German official over Bank of Spain deputy governor
Central banks’ average import coverage ratio falls further
Upper-middle income institutions tend to have a higher ratio
Reserve management staff salaries increase by almost 6% from last year
Staff in Europe remain the best paid globally
Managers divided on sanctions effect on US dollar as reserve currency
Over 43% say it will weaken its status, but nearly 40% say it will not have meaningful long-term impact
Eurozone industrial activity likely to decline, analysts say
French and Spanish increase is unlikely to offset German contractions, observers argue