Central Banking
Indonesian governor detained
Burhanuddin Abdullah, the governor of Bank Indonesia, has been detained at police headquarters by the country's anti-corruption agency, Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK), a day after parliament approved economics minister Boediono as the next central…
Old Lady lowers rates to 5%
The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) cut rates by a quarter point to 5% on Thursday.
Trichet indicates rates to remain at 4%
Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), signalled that the Governing Council will leave rates unchanged for the foreseeable future despite mounting evidence that the credit crunch could severely impact the real economy.
British banks want to borrow more
UK banks have asked for a sharp increase in their borrowing facilities at the Bank of England, the Financial Times has reported.
IMF puts subprime losses at $945 billion
Estimates of the size of losses on subprime mortgages and related forms of lending just get uglier and uglier. The latest estimate, presented by the International Monetary Fund in its Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR), puts losses at a staggering …
Stalemate ends as Shirakawa is approved
Masaaki Shirakawa is the new governor of the Bank of Japan after the opposition Democratic Party of Japan accepted his nomination on Wednesday, ending a political standoff that has embarrassed both the central bank and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Fed minutes point to moderate easing
The latest Federal Reserve minutes suggest that the period of rapid monetary policy easing that started in late January may be over and could be replaced by a return to a more conventional, gradualist approach.
UK opposition calls for new central bank powers
Giving central banks the power to vary the capital banks hold over the economic cycle could help prevent asset price collapses, argued George Osborne, the Conservative shadow chancellor.
Thailand leaves rates on hold
The Bank of Thailand has kept rates at 3.25% for the sixth straight vote.
ECB's Bini Smaghi: sharp easing a dangerous game
Excessive rate reduction can weaken prices of domestic assets, potentially destabilising markets, said Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, a member of the executive board of the European Central Bank.
Fed's Yellen sees economic up-tick
Monetary easing and fiscal stimulus will boost US growth in the coming quarters, said Janet Yellen, the president of the San Francisco Fed.
Housing bequests hamper monetary policy in Cyprus
Social customs in the Cypriot housing market interfere with monetary transmission mechanisms, a paper by the Central Bank of Cyprus finds.
Where New-Keynesian models fall short
New-Keynesian monetary models' assumptions do not fully reflect the complexity of price behaviour, a paper published by the National Bank of Belgium states.
Politicians ask Fed to clarify Bear deal
A high-ranking American politician has issued a strongly worded request for more details about the arrangement the Federal Reserve struck with BlackRock, an asset management firm, to manage a $29 billion portfolio of assets from Bear Stearns following…
ADIA hires ex-banker as communications chief
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) has hired former Morgan Stanley corporate communications executive Euart Glendinning as its first global head of corporate affairs.
Indonesia's Boediono gets the nod
Boediono, Indonesia's economics minister, will become governor of the country's central bank in May after a parliamentary committee approved his appointment.
Tokyo nominates Shirakawa for governor
The leadership crisis at the Bank of Japan looks resolved after the government nominated Masaaki Shirakawa, the current acting governor, for the role on Monday night.
New Indonesian governor wants tighter regulation
Boediono, the prospective head the Bank of Indonesia, called on 7 April for tighter regulation of the central bank after a series of corruption scandals.
Fed's Kroszner: subprime lessons for Latin America
Latin America is not decoupled from the US and the rest of the world. It is increasingly connected through global capital flows and capital markets, said Randall Kroszner, a governor of the Federal Reserve.
Bond spreads determined by turmoil
At the times of crisis global financial market conditions are the fundamental drivers of changes in bond spreads, research published by the International Monetary Fund finds.
Canada's Jenkins: domestic adjustments crucial
We need to encourage flexibility and adaptability in internal markets in order to adjust to cyclical economic shocks, said Paul Jenkins, the senior deputy governor of the Bank of Canada.
Supervisory information essential - ECB's Mersch
It is of utmost importance that a central bank has access to supervisory information, said Yves Mersch, the governor of the Central Bank of Luxembourg and a member of the European Central Bank's Governing Council.
IMF chief calls for public intervention in credit
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said on 6 April that he thinks the need for "public intervention" in the credit crisis is becoming more evident.
UK chancellor wants action on market crisis
Alistair Darling, the UK chancellor, has called on his G7 counterparts to formulate a "clear and detailed plan of action" to combat the turmoil in world markets.