Central Banking
Australian credit-card case clears first hurdle
The potential complexity of Visa and MasterCard's landmark legal action against the Reserve Bank of Australia over credit-card reforms was underscored on Wednesday when the parties spent the day resolving how confidential information from 50 third…
Japan's Koizumi: Need deflation-fighter at BOJ
INTERVIEW - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday the nation needs a bold deflation-fighter to lead the central bank when the current governor's term ends in March, underscoring the concerns falling prices continue to eat away at the…
A new general approach to capital adequacy?
ARTICLE - The Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation on Tuesday released a proposal aimed at replacing the Basel committee's new capital adequacy proposal. CentralBankNet attended the press conference.
Bell on six months on the MPC
SPEECH - In the speech 'Six Months on the MPC: A Reflection on Monetary Policy' Marian Bell of the Bank of England said Bell described the job of the MPC as a narrow and technical one limited to controlling changes in the overall price level. She said…
Nickell on the picture of european unemployment
SPEECH - In the speech 'A Picture of European Unemployment: Success and Failure' Stephen Nickell of the Bank of England said that although average unemployment in Europe is relatively high compared to OECD countries outside Europe, very high unemployment…
ECB Press Release
PRESS RELEASE - Genval seminar on the EU accession process, 6 December.
ECB Press Release
PRESS RELEASE - Review of the quantitative reference value for monetary growth, 5 December.
BIS Quarterly Review December 2002
REPORT - BIS Quarterly Review, International Banking and Financial Market Developments, December 2002. In the report the BIS said that confidence began to return to markets at the end of October after six months of mounting pessimism. But the report also…
Snow nominated as new US Treasury secretary
Following Paul O'Neill's forced resignation on Friday the Bush administration signalled that boosting US jobs growth with tax cuts was at the top of its agenda for next year as it nominated John Snow as O'Neill's replacement as Treasury secretary.
ECB wants all euro aspirants to join ERM
The European Central Bank (ECB) has recommended that all countries seeking to join the euro must first spend at least two years in the exchange rate mechanism (ERM). This contrasts with comments from Swedish politicians who recently said they would try…
Argentina names new central bank chief
Argentine President Eduardo Duhalde has selected economist Alfonso Prat Gay, a former adviser to the US bank JP Morgan, to head the country's central bank, according to the presidential chief of staff.
ECB's Issing warns of limits to transparency
There are limits to the degree of transparency that central banks are able to supply, European Central Bank chief economist and executive board member Otmar Issing said on Monday. He also noted that the introduction of the euro had raised peoples…
Sri Lanka finalising scripless settlement system
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka is in the process of finalising the details of a scripless securities settlement system to be implemented next September, a central bank official said Tuesday.
Bernankeian Economics
ARTICLE - This article looks at Fed Governor Ben Bernanke's recent speech "Deflation: Making Sure "It" Doesn't Happen Here" and says it is one of most important speeches on Federal Reserve and monetary policy in the past fifteen years. The article…
Wall Street veteran tops SEC list as new chief
President Bush has chosen investment banker William H. Donaldson to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, replacing Harvey Pitt who resigned under pressure amid a spate of corporate scandals, Republican officials said Tuesday.
Hayami - Toward further capital market development
SPEECH - In the speech 'Toward Further Development of Capital Markets To Support Smooth Corporate Finance' Masaru Hayami of the Bank of Japan said he was concerned that healthy firms may be starved of funds as banks respond to a new government drive to…
Japan revises growth up but recovery wanes
The Japanese government on Monday marginally revised third-quarter gross domestic product upwards, but a deluge of weak economic indicators released concurrently added to the mounting evidence that Japan's shallow recovery has started to wane.
Thinking about life after Greenspan
ARTICLE - America's interest rates came under the spotlight again on December 10th, when the Federal Reserve met for the last time this year. At the Fed, as well as at the Treasury department, attention is turning to regime change. This article…
CentralBankNet Monday Special Feature
SPECIAL FEATURE - While economists appear to be increasingly concerned with the possibility of deflation, the hideous reflection of an old enemy, central bankers have been reassuring us that the chances of a Japan style downward spiral are highly…
Issing on stable prices and stable markets
SPEECH - In the speech 'Why stable prices and stable markets are important and how they fit together' Otmar Issing of the ECB discussed what is a reasonable definition of price stability and reminds us of its importance for overall economic performance…
Sveriges Riksbank Inflation Report, No.4, 2002
RESEARCH - Sweden's central bank has published its Inflation Report for the Fourth Quarter 2002. In the report the Riksbank said inflation has fallen back since the spring, which supports their earlier assessment, and that inflation expectations are also…
Macfarlane - Statement to House of Representatives
SPEECH - In his opening Statement to House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics Ian Macfarlane of the Reserve Bank of Australia said he sees Australian growth next year at almost 4 per cent. Inflation is expected to remain near the top of…
Central banks must be radical in post-bubble world
ARTICLE - An article asks how conservative central bankers can be turned into radical policy makers, suggesting the problem lies in persuading the public that central bankers really can change their spots.
Ukraine president wants central bank chief sacking
After the recent failed efforts of Ukraine's president Leonid Kuchma to have the national bank governor dismissed from his job, we understand that he has again urged the Supreme Council (parliament) to relieve Volodymyr Stelmakh from his duties in order…