Central Banking
Brainard cautious over further hikes in interest rates
Fed governor says she will be watching inflation “carefully” over the coming months, stating the unwinding of the balance sheet will begin ”soon”
ECB’s Cœuré says asset purchases are not responsible for exchange rate movements
Executive board member says Europe’s asset purchase programme has boosted economic growth and inflation prospects; policy not “fundamentally different” from conventional policy
BoE leads foray into non-bank stress simulations
Paper sets out agent-based approach to modelling feedback loop that could create sharp price moves, even where funds and dealers are individually safe
Vietnamese central bank cuts rates, despite IMF credit warning
Decision contradicts IMF advice to keep monetary policy on hold to contain rapid credit growth, but growth and inflation have disappointed
PNG governor urges country to reduce reliance on extractive industries
Bank of Papua New Guinea governor says country needs to diversify its industries and create a culture of savings
BoE distributed ledger project delivers cross-border payments success
Bank of England completes transactions across two RTGS networks using Ripple’s DLT solution; issues remain on how tech could be adapted for wholesale payments
Randal Quarles nominated to Fed’s top supervision role
Donald Trump’s pick for vice-chair of supervision viewed as a moderate figure, but critical of Dodd-Frank Act
Bundesbank’s Buch calls for three-pronged reform effort
Bundesbank vice-president says policymakers should tackle “excessive” risk-taking to prevent further financial crises; evaluating reform is key, says Buch
CEPR paper sketches ‘radical, realistic’ Greek reform plan
Stanford and Yale economists outline “unorthodox” policies that could put Greek debt on a sustainable footing – and might be acceptable to all negotiating parties
Public protector backs down over Sarb mandate challenge
Mkhwebane admits she lacks power to suggest parliament make changes to the constitution, though she stands by her call for a review of the Sarb’s mandate
BoJ faces growing communications challenge
Japanese central bank embarks on its third attempt at unlimited fixed-rate outright JGB purchases; further fiscal stimulus would do little to help
Central Bank of Egypt hikes rate in bid to rein in rapid inflation
Inflation is starting to slow after impact of devaluation but is still running at close to 30%, the central bank says
It is too early to disregard cash – Croatia’s Vujčić
European governors wary of what the future of fintech will hold for both digital and hard cash
Bank of Uganda officials to head new deposit insurance fund
Team from the Bank of Uganda to lead the fund in the interim as it relaunches following its separation from the central bank
Barbados government should cut staffing to reduce expenditure – Worrell
Government should aim to reduce its expenditure rather than raise taxes, says former central bank governor; departments should be reorganised to operate with fewer staff
Bullard raises concerns about east coast dominance of the Fed
St Louis Fed president is not worried about the major shake-up of the board of governors; points to reducing the influence of the New York Fed on the FOMC
Time to ‘reignite’ SME development, says Zim governor
Mangudya notes importance of SMEs in supporting nation’s economy but acknowledges access to banking sector is currently poor; financial inclusion strategy aims to help
ECB wants ESAs to focus on ‘European dimension’
The central bank says supervisors should be reshaped to better promote European interests; it recommends greater powers and a governance shake-up
Mersch criticises Commission over securitisation regulation
Some ‘STS’ provisions reduce transparency and increase complexity, ECB board member says
BCBS and Iosco publish draft securitisation criteria
Document focuses on “simple, transparent and comparable” asset-backed commercial paper securitisations
FSB says ‘significant work’ still needed on cross-border resolution
Work is progressing but major obstacles remain; FSB’s Elke König urges regulators not to lose “reform momentum”
People: Fed appoints general counsel; new department heads at Riksbank
Fed appoints former supervision and regulation head to general counsel; new heads of monetary policy and financial stability for Riksbank; and more
FSB turns to video in effort to widen comms reach
“Safer, simpler, fairer” video seeks to broaden communications effort to a less specialised audience
BoE needs to ‘raise its game’ on cyber threats – BoE’s Habgood
BoE’s Habgood praises institution’s cyber security but says more can be done; new multi-level defence designed to ensure critical bank systems are not breached