Central Banking Journal
Benoît Cœuré on CBDCs, stablecoins and central bank fintech co-operation
BIS Innovation Hub chief voices concerns about the timing of stablecoin and CBDC roll-outs, fintech risks for supervisors and monetary policy, and details development plans for eight innovation locations
Book notes: Quantitative easing, by Jonathan Ashworth
Well-documented and fairly comprehensive book for anyone, including central bankers, wanting an overview of how monetary policy has evolved in recent decades
Cash infrastructure as public good – implications for the cash cycle
Efforts are under way in the Eurosystem to safeguard cash infrastructure as a ‘public good’ even as transaction volumes have fallen significantly. How can policy-makers strike the right balance?
Book notes: The handbook of China’s financial system, edited by Marlene Amstad, Sun Guofeng and Xiong Wei
An important, comprehensive and informed overview of the current state of the Chinese financial system
The evolving ‘strategy function’ in central banks
Some institutions participating in a survey of 27 central banks still struggle to fully harness an effective ‘strategy function’, according to the ECB’s Jean-Charles Sevet and Alejandro de la Cuesta
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
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
Book notes: The political economy of bank regulation in developing countries, edited by Emily Jones
A pioneering academic – but reader-friendly – monograph on the response of peripheral countries to Basel standards
Book notes: Central banks as fiscal players, by Willem Buiter
Buiter puts a real economic problem into a convincing theoretical frame, and translates it into applicable policy advice
Regulating big tech and non-bank financial services in the digital era
Big tech incursions into financial services in China and elsewhere demonstrate the potential benefits of adopting a digital-bank or holding-company approach to financial regulation
A rebuttal of Philip Turner’s criticism of the BIS ‘house view’
Robert Pringle critiques the key findings raised in Philip Turner’s occasional paper, ‘The new monetary policy revolution: advice and dissent’
Book notes: Economic philosophies, by Alessandro Roselli
Roselli’s analytical and historical exploration is especially valuable now, writes Robert Pringle
Central Banking Awards 2021: winners in full
Winners in 2021 include the Federal Reserve, Alejandro Díaz de León and Charles Goodhart
Evolving investment activities with ETFs
BlackRock‘s Crystal Wan, Andrew Mackenzie and Pablo Arteaga examine the exchange-traded funds market from the perspective of central banks seeking the tools to achieving their financial goals
A bellwether moment for CBDC plans
The launch of the ‘sand dollar’ may herald a new era of CBDCs as the Fed and ECB step up their preparations
Specialised lending initiative: Clearstream
Clearstream supports eurozone central bank asset purchase programmes by returning liquidity to the market through securities lending while helping Asian and American central banks secure access to this market
Central bank of the year: The Federal Reserve System
Overwhelming Fed interventions in March 2020 forestalled a damaging global financial crisis, as policy overhaul prompts introspection in Europe and Japan
Risk manager: National Bank of Georgia
Liquidity stress tests provided confidence to ease daily thresholds, and offer exchange rate, internal market and financial system support, without forcing the liquidation of illiquid reserves
Treasury systems initiative: Refinitiv
The firm’s data-driven approach is helping central banks stay ahead of fast-moving markets
Initiative of the year: Saudi Central Bank’s business continuity programme
Advanced planning has allowed Sama employees and systems to continue operating critical functions despite the Covid-19 lockdowns
Risk management technology: Ion Treasury
The US firm has championed Libor transition services, and supported reserve managers manage positions during the coronavirus shock
Economics in central banking: ‘Patterns in invoicing currency in global trade’, Emine Boz, Camila Casas, Georgios Georgiadis, Gita Gopinath, Helena Le Mezo, Arnaud Mehl and Tra Nguyen
An extensive data-gathering exercise allowed the authors to shed new light on critical aspects of policy-making in a globalised world, while clearing a path for other researchers to follow
Currency services: Crane Currency
The firm supported the needs of clients throughout the pandemic, while continuing to innovate with the launch of micro-optic security features