Central Banking
Kohn to leave Fed in June
Federal Reserve’s Don Kohn to depart once his term as vice chairman ends
Argentine president drops efforts to plunder reserves
President Fernández abandons plans to raid central bank’s coffers to repay national debt for now
Last survivor of Bretton Woods dies
IMF managing director calls Jacques Polak an “iconic figure”
UK FSA’s penalties policy could see enforcement fines treble
British regulator’s announces new structure for penalty-setting
NZ makes credit ratings mandatory for non-banks
Governor Alan Bollard deems ratings useful for investors
Real-time output gap estimates unreliable: ECB paper
European Central Bank paper finds that real-time estimations of the difference between actual and potential GDP cannot be trusted in several respects
IMF should have come to emerging markets’ rescue: DSK
International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn says it should have been the Fund, not the Fed and other central banks, which provided swap lines to emerging markets in the crisis
Macklem named Canadian senior deputy
Tiff Macklem to move back to central bank to take on role vacated by Paul Jenkins
High debt heralds new rate policy: UK shadow chancellor
George Osborne says high level of public debt will prompt reappraisal monetary policy
MPC’s Miles leaps to the defence of QE
Rate-setting committee’s external member David Miles says the Bank’s asset purchase programme has shored up the private sector despite focus on gilt purchases
Bank of Japan – Financial Markets Report
Japanese central bank’s report says Dubai crisis shed light on sensitive investors still were, notes that while accommodative policies soothe some market players, others worry about flows to emerging markets
Real-time activity index shows depth of recession
Philadelphia Fed paper constructs index of real-time macroeconomic information, showing that the recent recession was defined by its severity relative to its length
Singapore moots expanding deposit guarantees
Monetary Authority of Singapore proposes extending scope and limit of deposit protection as it nears exit from an emergency guarantee adopted at the height of the crisis
Bulgaria relaxes capital adequacy rules
Bulgarian National Bank announces adoption of further countercyclical capital measures, reducing risk weights on retail and real estate exposures by 25 and 15 percentage points
Shogo Ishii to head IMF’s Asia office
Current head Akira Ariyoshi to take up academic post in Hitotsubashi University
Emerging markets need a voice: Krueger
Ex-IMF first deputy managing director Anne Krueger writes that countries such as India and China must have a presence of the international stage reflecting their weight in the global economy
Taylor rule has not removed need for judgement: RBI’s Subbarao
Reserve Bank of India governor Duvvuri Subbarao says the celebrated monetary policy rule provides a policy basis, but central banks need to apply it with relativism
Income convergence and inflation in central and eastern Europe
Bank of Estonia paper finds that income levels and inflation are correlated in the long term, but not in the short-term, with the process of convergence appearing to be slow
ECB – Monetary developments in the euro area (January)
European Central Bank statistics show broad money in the eurozone grew modestly in January
ECB’s Stark rejects calls for higher inflation target
Senior European Central Bank official pans IMF chief economist’s suggestions of a higher inflation target
Fed is investigating Goldman, hedge funds: Bernanke
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke says the central bank is looking into cross-currency swaps carried out by Goldman Sachs alleged to have helped Greece hide the extent of its debt
Argentine court blocks debt repayment fund
Appeals court thwarts Argentine president Cristina Fernández’s decree by upholding injunction against the forced transfer of central bank reserves to bondholder repayment fund
FT Fed watcher to head NY Fed communications
Financial Times’s Krishna Guha to succeed Calvin Mitchell as executive vice president for communications
Brazil jacks reserve ratio up by 200 bps
Central Bank of Brazil lifts reserve requirement ratio back to pre-crisis level, move is expected to withdraw more than 70% of liquidity provided during crisis