Central Banking
Fed’s Lockhart advocates ‘wait and watch’ approach to asset purchases
Atlanta Fed president acknowledges risks surrounding ever more quantitative easing, but says purchases should not diminish until it is clear the economy has traction
Israel annual report sees growth and inflation fall
Growth rate declines by 1.5% in 2012 but unemployment remains stable; inflation falls below target as schooling and mobile phone prices fall
UK enters new regulatory landscape
UK’s new conduct and prudential regulators take over from the FSA and aim to avoid the failings of their predecessor
Barbadian governor proposes adopting new policy rate
DeLisle Worrell and other senior central bank staff suggest adopting three-month Treasury bill rate as key policy rate, saying it is more practical for small, open economies
IMF calls on Hungary to safeguard central bank independence
The Fund's executive board urges National Bank of Hungary to preserve legal and operational independence; encourages a 'pause' in monetary easing
Bank of Lithuania chief urges banks to consider fee cuts as non-cash payments rise
Report shows sharp increase in volume of non-cash payments in Lithuania; governor Vitas Vasiliauskas says this gives banks room to consider cutting fees
RBA governor sees scope for further monetary easing
Glenn Stevens explains rate hold at 3%, but says there is scope for further easing as growth undershoots target
Turkish banks face larger bill for holding forex and gold
Central bank increases price of holding gold and foreign exchange for Turkish banks who want to diversify reserve holdings away from Turkish lira
Saudi vice-governor warns of 'quantum leap' in money laundering
Abdulrahman Al-Hamidy says countries with weak defences may suffer from capital flight and higher levels of inflation
Danish governor sees further bank ‘resolutions' on the horizon
Nils Bernstein commends mortgage lenders for addressing the sector's challenges without the need for further legislation
Fed doves disagree over FOMC's next move
Boston Fed’s Rosengren sees scope to continue asset purchases at current rate throughout 2013; Cleveland Fed’s Pianalto wants to slow programme down if labour market improvements hold
Portugal must strengthen institutions to attract foreign direct investment - working paper
Bank of Portugal researchers call for a focus on corruption and strengthening the independence of the financial system to increase attractiveness for FDI
McKinnon says Fed must raise rates to stimulate growth and employment
Leading academic says positive real interest rates are the only way out of a credit crunch that's holding back lending to the productive economy
Michael Woodford backs combining nominal GDP and inflation target
Leading monetary policy theorist advocates immediate fiscal transfer to the public, funded by central bank purchase of government debt, coupled with adoption of nominal GDP target
Asia corporates unfairly ‘penalised’ by CVA capital charge
The move by European authorities to exempt European banks from holding CVA capital should be matched by regulators in Asia, according to senior bankers in the region
Fiji's new $5 note is island nation's polymer pioneer
New FJ$5 note will be Fiji's first polymer banknote, and will supplant the defunct FJ$2 note as the country's smallest
Riksbank submits account of monetary policy 2012
Report on last year's actions submitted to parliament to assess Riksbank performance
IMF paper recommends China adopt ‘better-targeted’ macro-prudential policies
Study encourages China to tailor macro-prudential tools to regional and economics differences in country’s banks; suggests coupling policies with greater commercialisation
Norwegian paper finds implicit intra-day interest rate in UK money market
Research says that – in the absence of contractually binding repayment time – there is an implicit cost of delaying payments in the UK’s overnight money market
Brics leaders agree to set up $100 billion ‘financial safety net'
Contingent reserve agreement will allow Brics countries to provide each other financial support and will 'contribute to strengthening the global financial safety net'
Parliament gives Agus green light to become Bank Indonesia chief
Agus Martowardojo gets parliamentary approval to replace Darmin Nasution as governor of Bank Indonesia, after nine hours of questioning by commission
Australian banks ‘relatively strong’, says RBA
Reserve Bank of Australia’s latest financial stability review finds banks’ profits and capital levels are increasing; real economy suffering from high exchange rate
RBNZ article says ‘open bank resolution’ helps keep banks in line
Quarterly bulletin describes resolution mechanism aimed at minimising disruption to bank customers; suggests use as an alternative to bail-out strengthens incentive for banks to operate prudently
Slovenia picks new central bank governor to guide economy to safety
Boštjan Jazbec will take over from Marko Kranjec at the helm of the eurozone nation's central bank - tasked with 'repairing the financial sector'