Regulation
Eurogroup's Rato supports Trichet as ECB head
FRANCE - Rodrigo Rato, chairman of the group of EU finance ministers, on Thursday said the next president of the European Central Bank should be French and signalled his support to put Bank of France Governor Jean-Claude Trichet in the top job.
Hungarian ctrl bk to coordinate data after glitch
HUNGARY - The National Bank of Hungary and the Central Statistics Office, or KSH, Wednesday signed a pact to harmonize data collection, two days after the central bank revised and more than doubled the 2001 current account deficit.
Japan urged to adopt British-style economic reform
UK - The British government will today urge Japan to press ahead with privatisation and other structural reforms as the best way to pull the country out of its deepening economic crisis.
New Middle East development bank proposed
BELGIUM - The European Commission will on Wednesday unveil proposals for a new development bank for Mediterranean and Middle East countries amid a debate over the European Union's political and economic role in the region.
O'Neill: 'Enron to trigger stricter laws'
US - US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill has weighed into the debate about how to prevent any repetition of the Enron scandal with proposals to tighten the law on negligence.
Greece needs more structural reforms-cen bank
GREECE - Greece needs to proceed with additional structural reforms in order to boost the economy's competitiveness in the eurozone, the Bank of Greece and The Brookings Institution, said on Monday.
Spain sees ECB Noyer's succession settled in March
FRANCE - A successor to European Central Bank Vice President Christian Noyer will be chosen at a European Union summit in Barcelona in mid-March, Spanish Economy Minister Rogdrigo Rato said in an interview published on Thursday.
Anger at Hain over timetable for joining euro
UK - The UK Treasury has signalled its anger at Peter Hain, the minister for Europe, for laying out a possible timetable for euro membership.
Jockeying begins as candidates line up for ECB job
UK - EU governments are marshalling their candidates to succeed Christian Noyer when he steps down on 31 May as vice-president of the European Central Bank.Guy Quaden, the governor of the Belgian central bank, yesterday removed his name from the…
ECB eyeing council revamp ahead of enlargement
GERMANY - The European Central Bank is studying draft proposals on how the bank should be governed once several eastern European nations join the euro zone later this decade, a newspaper said on Wednesday.
Quaden - I'm not candidate for ECB vice presidency
BELGIUM - Belgian Central Bank Head Guy Quaden Tuesday ended weeks of speculation, saying he isn't a candidate to replace Christian Noyer as vice president of the European Central Bank.
Austrian c.banker seen as candidate for ECB
AUSTRIA - The Austrian National Bank's 49-year old deputy governor, Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell, could be a candidate to replace Finnish ECB board member Sirkka Hamalainen, who is in charge of the ECB's money market operations, an Austrian weekly magazine…
Reform fears hit Tokyo markets
Japan - Two Japanese economy ministers have dashed hopes of an injection of public money into Japan's ailing banking system.
Bank of Latvia awarded as most creative State Bank
LATVIA - The Bank of Latvia received Vreneli prize at the World Money Fair in Basel, Switzerland, as the most creative state bank, a spokesman said.
UK and Italy in new alliance
UK - UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi have agreed in principle on a common position for lifting regulations on European labour and energy markets during a summit in Rome.
Sanctions threat to 'opaque' tax haven
UK - The government is considering imposing sanctions on Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, if it fails to comply with international action to force tax havens to improve financial transparency.
UK to encourage Islamic mortgages
UK - Moves by the UK Treasury and the Bank of England to encourage Islamic mortgages, investments and current accounts in Britain may be under way.
India frees up bank investment rules
INDIA - Shares in India's leading banks have jumped by as much as 20%, after the government relaxed its rules on foreign investment.
Latvian parliament approves bank's vice president
LATVIA - The Latvian parliament Thursday almost unanimously approved as central bank vice-president Andris Ruselis, recommended for the office by Bank of Latvia president.
Barclays chief hits out at watchdogs
UK - The head of banking giant Barclays has warned City watchdogs against imposing overzealous regulation, or risk seeing financial services business lost abroad.
Some EU countries already vying for No. 2 ECB spot
EUROPE - Just days after Wim Duisenberg announced he would resign next year as president of the European Central Bank, some countries began suggesting they would like one of their own in the central bank's No. 2 seat, which opens up at the end of May…
Speech by William Poole of the St. Louis Fed Bank
SPEECH - In the speech titled 'The Role of Anecdotal Information in Fed Policymaking' Poole said that with formal data giving an incomplete and often delayed picture of the economy, including in the key areas of growth and inflation, anecdotal…
Succession scramble at ECB
FEATURE - For those few who enjoy the subtleties of central banking politics, a glacial but important semantic change has occurred over the past couple of years.
New US stock market rules unveiled
US - The US stock market regulator has proposed new rules for faster corporate disclosures, in the first reform taken in the wake of the Enron scandal.