Central Banking
Old Lady holds rates, relaxes reserve rules
The Bank of England's monetary policy committee on Thursday said it would keep its benchmark rate at 5.75%.
Fed to stay short of two governors
Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris Dodd has no plans to move three pending nominations to the Federal Reserve Board through his committee and onto the Senate floor, he said on 3 October.
Barbados to give more power to central bank
The Central Bank of Barbados could be granted more independence if the country's parliament agrees to pass its latest Central Bank act. The island's authorities will also open a financial services regulator within months.
Nigeria hikes rates
The Central Bank of Nigeria said on Thursday it would raise its benchmark monetary policy rate by a full percentage point to 9%.
US needs global payments standards, says industry
Should the US adopt international standards in its domestic payment systems? Surprisingly, "yes" was the overwhelming answer at a packed Sibos, Nick Carver, editor of SPEED, writes from Boston.
Ex-BoE supervision head criticises FSA
According to Peter Cooke, a former head of banking supervision at the Bank of England, the Northern Rock crisis revealed the need for a proper "mechanism for crisis management", a greater official focus on liquidity rather than solvency and more…
CSDs sceptical of ECB's settlement plans
Clearstream and Euroclear, Europe's two largest central securities depositories, were sceptical that the European Central Bank's (ECB) plans to build a single settlement platform will deliver the benefits the central bankers promise, Central Bank News…
Bernanke schedule reveals markets' influence
Details of the diary of Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, show the extent to which Wall Street executives, along with money managers and cabinet officials, played a role in his policy about-turn on 17 August.
No job losses under Bank of Italy branch closure
The Bank of Italy has reassured its employees that it will be making no redundancies, despite closing more than a third of its branches.
Gono blames business for "traumatic" conditions
Gideon Gono, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, hit back at claims that the publication of the central bank's mid-year report was delayed because of the woeful state of the country's economy.
Central Bank of Nicaragua - Annual Report 2006
Nicaragua's economy grew by 3.7% in 2006, despite the poor performance of the agriculture industry. Unemployment fell slightly from 5.6% in November 2005 to 5.2% a year later.
Ageing populations will impact CB policy: Trichet
The real interest rate expected to clear the capital markets in developed economies is likely to decline over the coming decades because of population ageing.
HK market structure has little impact on profit
Cost efficiency is significantly more important than market structure in determining the profitability of banks in Hong Kong, according to research published by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).
Banks struggle with SEPA set-up
More than half of banks will not be able to comply with the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) initiative, which comes into effect in January.
Strauss-Kahn appeases emerging states with votes
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who will become the tenth managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in November, plans to give developing countries more power at the Fund.
Czech CB appoints financial stability deputy
Jan Frait has joined the Czech National Bank as deputy executive director of the financial stability and economic research department at the central bank.
Serbia holds rates
The National Bank of Serbia decided on Monday to keep its key policy rate at 9.75%.
Albania's Fullani on maintaining stability
Ardian Fullani, the governor of the Bank of Albania, looked to reassure the country's economists and policymakers that the financial system would remain stable.
Reserve Bank of New Zealand - 06/07 Annual Report
Alan Bollard, the governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, said that, aside from price stability, the central bank had focused on foreign exchange, banking, financial systems, payment systems and currency.
Interest rates and the economy: the best models
Analysis conducted by the Bank of Canada of six models looking at the relationship between the term structure of interest rates and the macroeconomy, found those following Diebold and Li's work performed the best.
Slovenia's capital failure
The poor performance of Slovenia's capital markets illustrates the difficulties in developing capital markets in small emerging economies, according to a paper published by the International Monetary Fund.
SWIFT responds to privacy fears with new EU base
SWIFT will open a Europe-based global processing centre for payments as part of a response to allay concerns over data privacy raised after the United States asked for data on financial transactions by Europeans following the 9/11 attacks.
Contrasting views on Old Lady's role in crisis
Charles Goodhart and William Buiter, both former monetary policy committee members at the Bank of England and both now professors at the London School of Economics (LSE), had sharply differing opinions on how the Bank should have handled the recent…
Strauss-Kahn set to become IMF managing director
In keeping with tradition, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recruited another EU-backed appointee - Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former French finance minister - to succeed Rodrigo de Rato as head.