Central Banking
ECB: corporate credit weakening
Corporate credit is significantly weakening, said Jean-Claude Trichet and Lucas Papademos, the president and the vice president of the European Central Bank (ECB).
Central Bank of Brazil - Annual Report 2005
Brazil's export sector had an excellent year in 2005, notes the Annual Report from the country's central bank.
Bank cuts to 1%, economy in severe downturn
The Bank of England chopped 50 basis points off bank rate on Thursday and stepped up the rhetoric on the scale of the crisis, saying that the global economy was now "in the throes of a severe and synchronised downturn".
Tarp assets too dear
The head of a watchdog charged with overseeing the use of funds allocated to the Troubled Asset Relief Program (Tarp) said on Thursday that the Treasury was overpaying for its investments in banks.
SARB's easing cycle accelerates
The South African Reserve Bank cut its key rate by 100 basis points on Thursday following a 50 basis-point cut in January.
Growth fears outweigh depreciation threat for CNB
The Czech National Bank (CNB) has cut its key interest rate to 1.75%, the lowest level in more than three years, in an attempt to stave off recession despite concerns about koruna's weakening.
Richmond Fed's Charlotte office gets new head
Matthew Martin, an economist at the Richmond Federal Reserve, has been promoted to the role of senior vice president responsible for the Fed's Charlotte branch.
National regulators must revise Basel II
National regulators need only make a small change to the Basel II framework to avoid future government recapitalisations. It is essential that they do so, say Samuel Sender and Noel Amenc, two researchers at France's EDHEC business school.
ECB official praises Slovakia's euro entry
The changeover from Slovak koruna to euro, which took place in January, was very smooth, said Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramo, a member of the European Central Bank's Executive Board.
Bank of Portugal - Annual Report 2007
The Portuguese economy saw no real convergence to European Union (EU) norms over the past decade, notes the country's central bank in its latest Annual Report.
Multi-family subprime borrowers should owe less
Multi-family property owners with subprime mortgages should receive a writedown of a proportion of the principal balance on their loan, argues a new paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
Italy's Draghi - standardisation needed
A move towards the standardisation of financial products in the future is unavoidable, said Mario Draghi, the governor of the Bank of Italy.
US demand for loans weakens further
Businesses and households' demand for loans continues to weaken, shows the latest edition of the Federal Reserve's quarterly Senior Loan Officer Survey.
Japan's Nishimura: increase competitiveness
Japanese manufacturing needs to enhance its competitiveness, said Kiyohiko Nishimura, a deputy governor of the Bank of Japan.
Africa will not be spared - IMF's Kato
The global financial crisis will not spare Africa, said Takatoshi Kato, a deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Kazakhstan devalues tenge by 18%
The National Bank of Kazakhstan has allowed the tenge's value to fall by almost a fifth against the greenback by substantially devaluing the currency's dollar peg.
SocGen losses cost Central Africa $584m - report
The Bank of Central African States has lost about $584m on investments made through Societe Generale, a bank, a senior official has reportedly said.
UK edges towards bad-bank solution
Britain is considering adopting the bad bank model to buy toxic assets a little over a fortnight after London announced plans to guarantee banks' bad debt.
Norway sees deeper, longer downturn ahead
Norges Bank shaved half a point off its key rate on signs the downturn could be deeper and last longer than previously expected.
Riksbank upgrades payments system
The Riksbank is to move to a new technology system and platform for RIX, the central bank's funds transfer system.
France's Noyer: keep your supervisors close
This crisis has showed the merits of having the banking supervisors close to the central bank, said Christian Noyer, the governor of Banque de France.
Floating rates worth weight in gold for Germany
German society was better off under the floating exchange-rate regime than during the pre-first world war classical gold standard period, finds a paper by Michael Bordo and Bernhard Eschweiler for the National Bureau of Economic Research.
National Bank of Georgia - Annual Report 2007
2007 showed that the trust of the Georgian population in the national currency increased, the country's central bank notes in its latest Annual Report.
Avoid Dutch disease with deep financial industry
A deep financial industry can reduce the exchange-rate appreciation effect of capital inflows, posits a new paper from the International Monetary Fund.