Central Banking
NPLs and cyber risks threaten Eastern Caribbean MU – IMF
Steps towards banking union should be put on hold until short-term priorities are addressed, says fund
CBRT to hand over profit and reserves to government
Law change permits government to dip into central bank’s reserves
Bank of Thailand grapples with baht appreciation
Central bank has relaxed forex regulations and cut rates as baht hits six-year high
Fed governors are losing influence, financial historian argues
Peter Conti-Brown examines the eroding influence of the democratically accountable members of the FOMC
Nigerian central bank tightens payments system supervision
Payments firms must set up boards to create proper risk management systems, central bank says
Female Spanish entrepreneurs face unconscious bias by lenders – research
Double standards suggest credit allocation among start-ups is not efficient
BoE prepares for regulatory data shake-up
Central bank keeping open mind on future of regulatory data collection; FCA plans to expand “advanced analytics” and automation
New CBSL governor targets transmission mechanism
Priorities for 2020 include tackling bottlenecks, boosting transparency and improving analytics
Bank Negara Malaysia seeks feedback on new climate taxonomy
Central bank proposes classifying activities based on how much they harm the environment and how willing businesses are to improve
Proportion of women working in central banks dips
On average, women make up 45% of central bank workforce, but improvements have been made to senior management make-up
Higher oil prices dampened impact of Fed spillovers in Gulf – IMF paper
Changes in Fed rates likely to have minimal impact on GCC growth with current oil prices, researchers say
Lagarde awards Schnabel key policy role in renewed ECB board
Panetta leads market infrastructure and payments, banknotes and international relations
BIS paper: banks may harm customers through ‘steering’
Nudging “naive” households to take decisions can harm their welfare, authors find
BoE paper: simple communication can backfire
Success of communication is not measured by number of people reached, paper states
Bernanke offers ideas for Fed’s policy framework review
Unconventional policies are “preferable” to raising inflation target and can still be enhanced, Bernanke argues
Patterns of exchange rate pass-through are changing – RBI paper
Pass-through in emerging markets is non-linear, asymmetric and falling, authors find
Crises are non-linear, beware high debt levels – research
IMF paper warns against complacency on high debt levels
Rates have been falling for eight centuries – BoE research
Study casts doubt on major theories, including secular stagnation; author warns rates could “soon enter permanently negative territory”
RBI launches app to help visually impaired
App can be used by people with visual impairment to identify banknotes
Central bank research may be too focused on narrow topics – paper
Network analysis finds many central banks are limited in the scope of their research
Chile’s central bank publishes historical meeting minutes
Historical minutes have been digitised in a move to improve transparency and accountability
Pension funds suffer in latest round of Eiopa stress-testing
Only 30% of funds have policies in place to mitigate ESG risk; low interest rates continue to pose a problem for funds across Europe
West Africa launches new currency in break with France
New ‘eco’ currency will still be pegged to the euro, but France will have less involvement in the affairs of the West African Economic and Monetary Union
Central Bank of Iceland completes merger with regulator
Governor Ásgeir Jónsson to retain overall responsibility; two new deputy positions created