International
SNB holds rates, vows to fight franc appreciation
Bank says short-term inflation pressures are high but will remain ‘virtually unchanged’ in medium term
Financial services: Citi
The US bank has striven to provide clients with high-level advice as well as service breadth, technical expertise and execution
Hélène Rey to head BIS monetary and economic department
Scholar of international monetary system will replace Hyun Song Shin later this year
NBU tells banks to avoid Hungary after cash and gold heist
Hungarian government official explicitly ties asset seizure to dispute over stricken oil pipeline
Governor of the year: Jerome Powell
The Fed chair has shown high levels of integrity and resolve in upholding his public duty in the pursuit of price stability and maximum employment
PBoC plans more market-based monetary policy formulation
Analysts expect Middle East conflict to have little impact on policy in China
Book notes: The doom loop, by Eswar S Prasad
A persuasive analysis of a new world disorder that will bring an end to central bank independence
Asian central banks prepare for conflict-induced energy shock
IMF’s Georgieva says Iran war creates energy and confidence risks for most of region
How will Europe’s central banks react to the Middle East crisis?
ECB unlikely to veer from rate path as it had expected to undershoot during 2026
Swiss National Bank’s profits down in 2025
Losses on FX holdings dwarfed by gold gains to enable bank to post Sfr26.1 billion profit
Book notes: Before the Fed, by Jon Moen and Mary Tone Rodgers
A significant contribution to understanding private-sector financial crisis responses, relevant to today’s lender-of-last-resort function
ECB posted €1.3bn loss in 2025
Reserves grew by €13.6bn while central bank thinned balance sheet by €37.3bn
Monetary dominance depends on comparative advantage – paper
Money that is ‘too good’ as a store of value may not circulate, authors say
Monetary policy in Asia since the pandemic
Asean+3 nations must plan to tackle ‘disturbance’, ‘structural’ and ‘radical’ uncertainty using a disciplined policy mix to preserve price stability amid global shocks, writes Dong He
Lagarde downplays odds of early exit
ECB president uses interviews to say she is on a ‘mission’ with a ‘baseline’ of serving out her term
Reform rules or risk ‘coercion and mercantilism’ – Lagarde
ECB president says it is better to revise current international order than to abandon it
Shipping congestion drives up inflation – IMF paper
Study of tracking data shows delays at ports are reflected in headline inflation
Economists warn of emerging ‘sovereign-stablecoin nexus’
Researchers model regulatory options as stablecoins become intertwined with core markets
Repeat of past mistakes fuels risk of new crisis
Jesper Berg and Hans Geeroms argue that bank lobbying has succeeded in securing a dangerous softening of rules
UAE central bank joins Hong Kong’s bond clearing scheme
Monetary authorities say move will provide Gulf state with direct access to renminbi debt market
Reserve managers focus on the ‘E’ in ‘ESG’
Central banks continue buying green assets while largely eschewing governance and social elements
BNM selects firms for tokenisation and stablecoin pilots
Malaysian institutions to test wholesale payments and tokenised asset settlement
Models need rethink due to effect of global shocks – paper
Central banks can no longer assume shocks are ‘temporary, linear and symmetric’, authors say
Nexus picks operators to build and run ‘network of networks’
CEO expects global scalability following launch of multi-country fast payments linkage