Central Banking
Central Bank of Iceland, Financial Stability 2006
According to the Central Bank of Iceland's Financial Stability report 2006, the overall findings of the previous report are unchanged, but more challenging waters clearly lie ahead.
Comment: Surprises as ECB reshuffles
The ECB last week surprised analysts by naming ex-Bundesbank official, Jurgen Stark, as head of its economics division. As expected, the central bank has split the management roles for the important divisions of economics and research, both previously…
Interview with Otmar Issing
In an interview published Thursday 1 June, outgoing ECB chief economist Otmar Issing said his parting message to his ECB colleagues was to get to grips with inflation.
Danmarks Nationalbank, Financial Stability 2006
Denmark's central bank published its Financial Stability report for 2006 on Friday 2 June. According to the report, Denmark is currently enjoying favourable economic conditions.
Burhan Goklemez named dep gov in Turkey
Turkey named central bank insider Burhan Goklemez as a deputy governor of the bank on Wednesday 31 May.
Central bankers to hold panel meeting
Top central bankers from Europe, Japan and the United States will participate in a panel meeting in Washington on Monday 5 June.
Kohn Senate hearing set for 8 June
The Senate Banking Committee said on Thursday 1 June that it will hold a hearing on the nomination of Federal Reserve governor Donald Kohn to be vice chairman at the Fed next Thursday.
ECB plans meetings in Dublin, Vienna in 2007
The European Central Bank said on Friday 2 June that it will hold meetings of its governing council in Dublin and Vienna next year.
Sveriges Riksbank, Financial Stability Report 1:06
Sweden's central bank, the Sveriges Riksbank, published its first Financial Stability Report for 2006 on 31 May. The prospects of the financial system managing potential shocks are good, according to the report.
Monetary policy conduct of the Swiss National Bank
The Bank of Japan Working Paper "Monetary policy conduct of the Swiss National Bank: the experience from 2001 to 2004" published May 2006 investigates the monetary policy conduct of the SNB during the period 2001 to 2004 and the accompanying financial…
Fed minutes show uncertainty on future hikes
Federal Reserve policymakers at their May meeting considered raising a key interest rate by half a percentage point before deciding on a quarter-point increase, minutes published Wednesday 31 May showed.
Nickell: 'Are Europeans lazy? Or Americans crazy'
In the speech 'Are Europeans lazy? Or Americans crazy?' given on 27 May Stephen Nickell of the Bank of England said there is no clear explanation as to why people in France and Germany work less than those in Britain, the United States or in Scandinavian…
BoJ's Fukui on quantitative easing
In a speech given on 1 June Toshihiko Fukui of the Bank of Japan said the central bank's quantitative easing policy, which lasted for nearly five years till March 2006, helped in bringing recovery back to the deflation-hit Japanese economy.
IMF paper on the European single financial market
The IMF Working Paper "The lender of last resort in the European single financial market" published May 2006 examines challenges in effectively implementing the lender-of-last-resort function in the EU single financial market.
ECB's Financial Stability Review, June 2006
The European Central Bank published its June 2006 Financial Stability Review on 1 June. In the report the ECB said an abrupt unwinding of the US current account deficit could put sharp downward pressure on the dollar and lead to a rise in US long-term…
ECB announces distribution of responsibilities
Within the framework of its collective responsibility for the overall functioning of the business areas of the European Central Bank, the Executive Board of the ECB agreed Thursday 1 June on a distribution of responsibilities among its members, with…
BoJ's Haru urges caution on rate moves
Bank of Japan board member Hidehiko Haru said on Thursday 1 June that the central bank need not end its zero interest policy too fast, and must avoid surprising markets.
BOJ's Fukui sees slow rate rises
Bank of Japan governor Toshihiko Fukui said the central bank would raise interest rates slowly and would proceed without focusing on one particular economic indicator, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday 1 June.
Russian reserves hit all time high
Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves, boosted by record world oil prices, have touched an all-time high of $243.3 billion, the central bank said on Thursday 1 June.
Adviser says China should buy gold with reserves
China should use its foreign-currency reserves to buy gold and oil as a hedge to guard against the risk of a sudden drop in the U.S. dollar, according to a member of the central bank's advisory board.
Bernanke subcommittee to explore communication
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has called on three experienced Fed officials to explore a broad range of issues related to how the Fed talks to financial markets.
Comment: Fed ponders communication strategy
The minutes of the US Fed's last monetary policy meeting, released this week, have enhanced the perception of an uncertain FOMC, and strengthened the view that further rate increases will be required. A close look at recent events show that the issue of…
Which news moves the euro area bond market?
This ECB Working Paper explores a long dataset (1999-2005) of intraday prices on German long-term bond futures and examines market responses to major macroeconomic announcements and ECB monetary policy releases.
BIS paper on dynamic prudential regulation
The BIS Working Paper "Dynamic prudential regulation: Is prompt corrective action optimal?" investigates whether reliance on book-value capital is a good policy choice and if PCA is an optimal regulatory approach.