Central Banking
Villeroy de Galhau highlights factors behind slow growth
French governor highlights importance of wage-setting mechanisms
IMF raises projections for US and eurozone growth for 2017
US policy mix still uncertain, but IMF staff do not yet believe changes will trigger an international trade shock; growth projections for emerging economies revised downwards
‘Humiliated’ RBI staff urge Patel to resist ‘unwarranted’ government interference
Reserve Bank of India staff send impassioned letter to governor to protect the central bank’s autonomy; finance ministry objects to claims, stating central bank is fully independent
Policy tensions in China to become ‘more stark’ in 2017 – Menon
MAS head says China's authorities will have to use a fair amount of “policy dexterity” this year to deal with likely US rate rises and volatile international markets
People: RBNZ appoints new CIO; former BoE deputy to chair BBC
Reserve Bank of New Zealand appoints new CIO and head of risk assessment; David Clementi, former Bank of England deputy for financial stability, to head new BBC board; and more
Measurement error a big part of ‘missing growth’ – Philippe Aghion
Statistics fail to capture creative destruction, French academic argues; US researchers say productivity in IT sector points to continued puzzle
Dutch paper looks at sovereign bank interdependencies
Researchers apply correlation between sovereign and bank credit default swaps
Harker optimistic in first speech as FOMC voting member
Inflation target set to be met this year, says Philadelphia Fed governor, noting labour force participation issues need to be addressed with legislative action
ECB minutes show dissent over asset purchases
Some council members expressed “scepticism” over asset purchases; two programme extension options were discussed
Bank of Lithuania plans to cut costs by a fifth
Strategic plan aims at improvements to payments system; bank aims to increase income from investment
BIS fails to find single cause of sterling ‘flash crash’
Report finds “numerous” factors which amplified the effects of the depreciation, including “inexperience staff” and “fragile” market conditions; lessons must be learned, BIS warns
Bitcoin exchange halts service after PBoC clampdown
BTC123 becomes first exchange in China to halt services due to ongoing investigation by government agencies into virtual currency; cuts rates on wealth products
Monitoring the labour market is key – BoE’s Saunders
Bank of England’s MPC member says unemployment should stay below the equilibrium 5% estimate in 2017 – but, should “warning signs appear”, changes to forecasts could be made
Riksbank dissenters raise range of concerns
Three officials objected to the Riksbank’s decision to expand its asset purchases at the meeting on December 20, for a variety of reasons, minutes show
US may not experience fiscal stimulus – Atlanta Fed president
Dennis Lockhart says the US economy has reached a “transitional” juncture; says declines in key growth factors are holding the economy back
Swift creates distributed ledger proof-of-concept
Swift, in conjunction with Hyperledger working group, will launch private distributed ledger network to help banks manage their cross-border payments
FSB finalises recommended action on asset management risks
Set of recommendations tackle liquidity, leverage, op risk and securities lending; work on globally systemic designations pushed back until 2019
ECB’s QE works best for strong banking systems – paper
Researchers track effects of ECB unconventional policy on eurozone countries
Leveraged markets not a financial stability risk – Powell
Powell examines state of highly leveraged markets with eye to financial stability, judging they are not yet a problem
Brazil ups pace of easing as inflation drops
Size of cut surprises observers, though inflation proves more favourable than expected; rates still rising in real terms
PBoC to investigate bitcoin firms
Bitcoin price falls by 33% in January; PBoC to investigate four largest bitcoin companies
Italian paper looks at securitisation of SME loans
Asymmetric information can be overcome by the use of observable data
Carney admits Brexit is no longer UK’s biggest stability risk
Bank of England governor quizzed on importance of transitional arrangements for Brexit; external financial policy member defends forecasting, but admits “surprise” at the health of the economy
Lacker to retire from Fed after 28 years
Jeffrey Lacker, who has a reputation as a monetary policy hawk, is to step down as Richmond Fed president in October; the search is on to find successor