Central Banking
Minneapolis Fed puts downturn in perspective
The Minneapolis Federal Reserve has produced a series of charts comparing the current recession with other downturns in the United States in the post-war period.
Are Libor spreads near the new normal?
A decline in interbank spreads shows confidence is returning. But, the margins at which spreads settle are likely to reveal much about how the crisis has changed the face of finance for years to come, Claire Jones, the editor of CentralBanking.com, says.
IMF's Kato: speed up governance reform
The International Monetary Fund should accelerate reform of its governance structure to better reflect global realities, said Takatoshi Kato, a deputy managing director of the Fund.
Banks back to deposit funding - Norway's Gjedrem
Deposits must again take precedence as the largest funding source for banks, said Svein Gjedrem, the governor of the Norges Bank.
Income distribution impacts the economy
Movements in the distribution of income can have a significant impact on the macroeconomy, a new paper from the St Louis Federal Reserve posits.
BIS data show derivatives market contracting
The rapid growth of the derivatives market reversed in the wake of the collapse of now-defunct investment bank Lehman Brothers - an event which revealed the fragility of the industry - data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) out Tuesday…
Fed outsources in-house cheque images system
The Federal Reserve has decided to migrate its archive of cheque images to a private provider in an effort to reduce costs.
Governance role to shift in crisis aftermath
Central bank governance is set to change in the aftermath of the financial crisis as institutions' roles adapt, a report out Monday has said.
Bank concerned on clarity of stability role
The Bank of England on Monday called for more clarity on and greater powers to fulfil its financial stability mandate.
BoJ's Hayami passes away
Masaru Hayami, the governor of the Bank of Japan who presided over the institution's introduction of quantitative easing, has died. He was 84.
Iceland MPC member: too many men led to bad banks
A member of the Central Bank of Iceland's recently-founded Monetary Policy Committee has said that an overabundance of "male bankers high on testosterone" taking "too much risk" was one of the reasons why financial professionals behaved so badly in the…
Switzerland's Jordan: too-big-to-fail a priority
The solution of the too-big-to-fail problem is the main task for Swiss financial regulators, said Thomas Jordan, a member of the country's central bank's governing board.
Turkey's strength is its financial system: Yilmaz
The key factor enhancing the resilience of Turkish economy to the global crisis is the stability achieved in Turkey's financial system, said Durmus Yilmaz, the governor of the country's central bank.
More payment systems caused cheque decline
The decline in cheque use occurred mainly via an increase in the number of payment instruments per consumer, a new paper from the Boston Federal Reserve reveals.
IFI programmes unsuitable
The model used by international financial institutions and donors in providing support for budgetary improvement programs is inappropriate and has limited effectiveness, research from the International Monetary Fund posits.
Boediono named as running mate, set to resign
Reports emerged on Friday that Boediono, the governor of Bank Indonesia, was tendering his resignation after he was named as the president's choice for running mate.
Temasek sells Bank of America shares
Temasek, one of Singapore's sovereign wealth funds, has sold its stake in Bank of America in a bid to reduce its considerable exposure to western banking stocks.
BoE outlines objectives for liquidity rules
Nigel Jenkinson, an adviser to the governor of the Bank of England and a member of the Financial Stability Board, on Friday detailed five objectives for a new framework on liquidity risk.
Egypt narrows rate corridor with cuts
The Central Bank of Egypt narrowed its rate corridor and loosened monetary policy in a bid to foster credit growth.
UAE looks to combat money laundering
A committee led by the head of the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced measures aimed at cracking down on money laundering and terrorist financing.
Stanford's Taylor warns of balance-sheet threat
John Taylor, a former Federal Reserve economist now a professor at Stanford, has told lawmakers that the expansion of the Fed's balance sheet risks exacerbating inflation.
Global factors in the Great Moderation
Research from the Bank for International Settlements claims that relative price adjustments taking place in the global economy are important sources of the lower rates of inflation which have been observed in recent decades.
An interpretation of the rise of inflation
A research paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research interprets the rise of inflation in the United States from the perspective of a simple macroeconomic framework.
Changing patterns of wealth and income in the US
The Federal Reserve has produced a paper examining the distribution of wealth and income and their joint properties, based on data from the 1989-2007 Surveys of Consumer Finance.