Central Banking Journal
Book notes: Fragile by Design: The Political Origins of Banking Crises and Scarce Credit
Markets for goods and labour depend vitally on the institutions that underpin them, say Charles Calomiris and Stephen Haber
Book notes: Saving the City: The Great Financial Crisis of 1914
A fascinating, brilliant and superbly researched analysis of these events and the lessons they have for us.
Banque de France's Christian Noyer on bank runs, the euro crisis and a Fed-like ECB
Christian Noyer explains how he has restructured the Banque de France to enable it to become the Eurosystem’s ‘New York Fed’, while facing down a bank run and tackling the euro crisis
Central Bank of Oman's Hamood Sangour Al Zadjali on the dollar, financial stability and Islamic finance
The Central Bank of Oman remains committed to the dollar as it moves to improve governance, liquidity management and Islamic finance in the sultanate, its executive president tells Chris Jeffery
Independence no substitute for rules-based policy
Thomas Cargill summarises the conclusions of four papers by world-leading economists on the issue of central bank governance and finds independence is overrated
Reassessing the sovereign investor nexus
As sovereign assets continue to grow, managers look set to adopt multi-asset investment approaches that are more closely associated with defined-contribution pension plans
A new vision of the Old Lady
The strategic review at the Bank of England represents an opportunity to create an ‘Economics Directorate’, a research department and an external policy unit, writes Richard Barwell
Lifetime achievement award: Paul Volcker
Paul Volcker’s record of achievement in difficult circumstances continues to provide an inspiration to central bankers throughout the world
Central bank of the year: The People’s Bank of China
The PBoC has anchored market-based reform in China by curbing excesses in the financial system while pressing ahead with interest rate and capital account reform at a time of major political change
Reserve manager of the year: Central Bank of Colombia
The Central Bank of Colombia’s dynamic reserves management strategy and impressive performance amidst turmoil in the US dollar and emerging market currencies made it stand out from the crowd
Governor of the year: Mario Draghi
Unflappable conviction and outstanding leadership has enabled ECB president Mario Draghi to decisively restore confidence in crisis-hit Europe
Global custodian of the year: Northern Trust
A clear and committed focus on servicing assets on behalf of sovereign clients – both big and small – combined with a robust technology platform made Northern Trust stand out last year
Asset manager of the year: BlackRock
Improved customer service and impressive investment capabilities in all types of strategies across a wide range of asset classes around the world made BlackRock the stand-out asset manager in 2013
Payments and clearing technology provider of the year: VocaLink
VocaLink has excelled by building the infrastructure for a new accounts switching service in the UK and exporting its pioneering Faster Payments platform overseas
Website of the year: Bank of Spain
The Spanish central bank demonstrated formidable attention to detail in the design of its website, producing an end-product that is both well-designed and simple-to-use for all end-users
Risk management technology provider of the year: OpenLink
Its versatility of infrastructure has allowed OpenLink to thrive in a changing technological environment to meet new central banking demands
Transparency award: Sveriges Riksbank
Sveriges Riksbank, the Swedish central bank, plays a pioneering role in central bank openness and clear communications
Has the global financial crisis dented central bank independence?
Grace Koshie looks at the post-crisis role of central banks, examining issues of fiscal dominance and weaker policy freedom in an increasingly inter-connected world demanding ever-greater transparency
Central bankers face tough monetary policy dilemmas
Central bankers around the world need to rethink their approaches to monetary policy
OECD’s William White fears global economic system is still highly unstable
William White tells Christopher Jeffery he is wary of placing too much reliance on the ‘science’ of monetary or regulatory policy. He also believes the world economic system is still out of balance