Europe
Kazakhstan’s central bank announces CBDC pilot
Central bank says it will issue token-based prototype to lenders
Implementing Basel III accords must not be delayed – ECB’s Enria
Financial sector is calling for further postponement but this will bring no benefits, supervisor warns
Greening the central banks
What are members of the NGFS doing to ‘green’ their own operations? Officials from the central banks of Belgium, Canada and Morocco highlight some of their initiatives
Insolvencies could jeopardise EU recovery – ESRB report
ESRB calls on governments and banks to plan a smooth phasing-out of support measures
ECB paper measures economic uncertainty in eurozone
Researchers present method to monitor changes in uncertainty in eurozone and its trading partners
Foreign banks can reduce harm of ‘doom loop’ – ECB paper
Cross-border banks in eurozone countries soften effects of sovereign stress on credit
Central banks halt longer-term dollar liquidity auctions
Major central banks will no longer offer dollar liquidity at the 84-day maturity
DNB survey finds 49% of respondents ready to use digital euro
Over half of sample had not heard of central bank-issued digital currency, survey finds
Eurozone’s public debt rose sharply in 2020 – official figures
Public debt in the bloc jumped to 98% of GDP in wake of Covid-19, Eurostat says
ECB makes no change as Lagarde warns of uncertainty
Lagarde says price pressures remain weak and cautions over possible Covid-19 variants
Governors Nabiullina, Tabaković and Bezhoska on systemic risk and women in power
Russia, Serbia and North Macedonia governors discuss bank reforms, corruption and the Covid-19 crisis
ECB watchers say divisions on council could hamper decision-making
Analysts say central bank’s strategy of lower purchases could be tested later in 2021
Zhang Tao on the IMF’s fintech agenda, CBDCs and big tech oversight
IMF deputy managing director speaks about the fund’s perspectives on CBDC operating frameworks, regulating big tech and macrofinancial oversight in a digital world
Is the ECB implementing yield curve control?
The eurozone has adopted a hybrid system – lying somewhere between the Fed’s QE and the BoJ’s yield curve control – that targets wider financing conditions
Covid-19 support may have created “zombie firms” – BIS economists
Policy-makers should impose tighter lending standards and reform bankruptcy law, analysts argue
ECB’s digital euro consultation says public worried over privacy
Nearly half of responses to ECB come from Germany
Emerging-market central banks lead on women’s empowerment
EME central banks have more women at staff level and in senior positions, but there are deep disparities worldwide, with childcare availability appearing to be a major cause
MMFs should increase public debt investment – ECB paper
Regulatory framework for money market funds has “fragilities”, researchers argue
Central banks take less than 50 minutes to fix critical outages
Time tolerances for critical system downtime range from one to 32 hours
Payment innovation is top fintech research priority for central banks
CBDC ranked second as central banks explore wider implications of fintech for payments
High income economy central banks’ technology costs vary widely
Some central banks in advanced economies have kept costs as low as those in poorer nations
IMF adjusts growth forecasts upward
Fund warns of uneven and unequal recovery, but is more optimistic than it was in October
‘Giant of the field’ Robert Mundell dies
The Nobel laureate influenced a generation of economists via the Mundell-Fleming model
Large economy central banks more likely to employ CTO
Slight majority of central banks employ CTO, but differences are clearer when sorted by GDP