Central Banking
China's 'visionary' Zhou leads yuan float push
An article published on Wednesday 17 August looks at People's Bank of China governor Zhou Xiaochuan in depth. He was a visionary on yuan reform long before it became a global issue, it says, and moved steadily up the banking and finance hierarchy through…
Argentina's central bank deputy dismissed
Argentine President Nestor Kirchner has removed central bank vice-president Ricardo Branda from office. Branda is under formal investigation for alleged corruption.
Modest pay, one term 'best' for central bankers
A new study says that Europe's central bank chiefs should receive only modest pay and serve just a single term in office to avoid self interest creeping into interest rate decisions. It also found that limited terms and confidential interest rate…
Kidnap! Iraq's central bank manager seized
Gunmen have kidnapped the general manager of the Central Bank of Iraq in front of his home in eastern Baghdad, state-owned television reported.
Robbery! Brazil's central bank loses $68m
How do you lose $68m? The central bank of Brazil is asking itself the same question after thieves tunnelled in to bank and made this massive withdrawal.
China appoints new central bank vice governor
Hu Xiaolian has been appointed vice governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) by China's State Council, the cabinet, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Bank of Canada's speech for 25 August cancelled
A speech that Bank of Canada deputy governor Sheryl Kennedy was due to give in New Brunswick on 25 August has been cancelled, the central bank said on Thursday 19 August.
Govt won't seek Fazio resignation - minister
The Italian government will not seek the resignation of central bank governor, Antonio Fazio, despite pressures for his removal because of his opposition to the takeover of two Italian banks by foreign companies, a minister was reported as saying by a…
Academics discuss East Asian Monetary Union
Academics meeting on Friday 19 August called for Asian nations to set up a regional cooperative body similar to the EU and adopt a common East Asian currency.
Comment: Governments eye foreign reserves
Two dimensions of official sector reserves receive a lot of attention in the press, in policy circles and from market analysts: foreign reserves held by central banks and public pension funds.
Budget misquoted says BoT governor
Bank of Thailand governor Pridiyathorn Devakula confirmed Thursday 18 August that the investment budget of the government's infrastructure development projects remains unchanged at 1.7 trillion baht and admitted that he had seen the wrong investment…
Philippine cb expects more bank consolidation
Philippine central bank governor Amando Tetangco told reporters on Thursday 18 August he expects the banking sector to continue consolidating this year.
Single currency in SADC remains elusive
Dreams of a regional central bank are far from fruition for the countries of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), according to this article published Tuesday 16 August.
In search of King's defence
Two articles published Thursday reflected on the Bank of England's last MPC meeting which saw the governor outvoted for the first time. One says the UK's "boring" monetary policy just got a whole lot more interesting, noting that heavyweight Charlie Bean…
Italy's Fazio on economic and financial planning
In testimony given on 22 July Antonio Fazio of the Bank of Italy said in order to return to a path of growth, it will be necessary to remove the factors that cause uncertainty and weigh on the decisions of firms and households regarding investment and…
Chicago Fed National Activity Index, July 2005
The Chicago Fed National Activity Index for July 2005 was +0.16 down from +0.40 in June. Three of the four broad categories of indicators that make up the index - employment, consumption and housing, and sales, orders, and inventories - made positive…
NY Fed conference on The Economics of Payments II
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York published on Thursday 18 August a call for papers for a conference on "The Economics of Payments II," being held from 29-30 March 2006.
RBA could hold meetings 'every two months'
The Reserve Bank of Australia could meet every second month, rather than holding the current monthly monetary policy meetings, a former central bank board member said.
Iran and Bahrain link ATM systems
The Iranian ATM system has been connected to that of Bahrain, allowing the customers of Bahraini banks to use the ATM machines in Iran and vice versa.
Serb central bank upbeat on IMF warning
Radovan Jelasic, governor of Serbia's central bank, predicted on Tuesday 16 August that the government would react positively to warnings from the International Monetary Fund that its loan arrangement was in jeopardy.
Growth rate in Korea at second-lowest: ADB
Korea's economic growth rate for 2006 will be the second-lowest out of a dozen Asian economies, the Asia Development Bank predicted in a report.
Copom holds Selic at 19.75% with no bias
The monetary policy committee of the Brazilian central bank announced Wednesday 17 August after its two-day meeting that, as expected, it is holding Selic (base rate) unchanged at 19.75% annually with no bias.
Comment: Views on King's gambit
Here is a roundup comments on the Bank of England's publication of the minutes of the latest MPC meeting, which revealed that, for the first time in the committee's history, the governor voted with the minority (see yesterday's CentralBankNet).
BIS's Knight on the global economy
In the speech 'The global economy: so far so good?' given on 8 July (published 11 August) Malcolm Knight of the BIS analyses recent global macroeconomic trends.