Central Banking
ECB launches quantitative easing
Mario Draghi unveils additional asset purchase programme that will see the ECB buy sovereign and agency debt; a ‘large majority’ of governing council backed decision
Venezuela to adopt new currency exchange system
Venezuela’s president announces changes to the country’s three-tiered currency exchange system, adapting the higher rate to market fluctuations
BoE’s Miles: Monetary policy 'does not hold all the cards'
Monetary policy cannot be expected to achieve price stability 'in isolation from things fiscal’, argues David Miles, MPC member at the Bank of England
Danish central bank cuts rates for second time this week
National Bank of Denmark lowers deposit rate for second time in four days following ECB action; central bank will defend euro peg ‘vehemently', says analyst
Swiss gain greater access to renminbi markets in new deal
SNB and PBoC ink deal on RQFII quota for Switzerland and establish renminbi clearing in the country; latest in a string of agreements aimed at renminbi internationalisation
Productivity performance sparks uptick in US entrepreneurship, finds Boston Fed paper
‘Modest improvement' in 2012 and 2013 follows a 'significant decline' in firm creation after the financial crisis to the lowest level since 1977
New core inflation measure proposed in IMF paper
Measure proposed by researchers from IMF and Central Bank of Brazil takes into account both volatility and persistence, ensuring all relevant information is exploited
Lagarde: Divergent monetary policy could be a good thing
It could be 'helpful' for the global economy if the ECB eases more as the Fed starts tightening, Lagarde tells an audience in Davos; Summers warns eurozone QE not 'sufficient'
EBA chairman says supervisors should break up unresolvable banks
Supervisory entities ‘should have the guts’ to break up an unresolvable bank, European Banking Authority chairman Andrea Enria tells Davos audience
Canada cuts rate for ‘insurance’ against oil price drop
Stephen Poloz says the fall in oil prices in ‘unambiguously negative’ for the Canadian economy as central bank unveils first rate change in over four years
UK’s FCA declares success in nudging savers towards new products
Occasional paper presents results of trial involving over 20,000 consumers to see if they could be encouraged to seek higher returns; produced ‘notable difference’ in behaviour
NY Fed's Baxter targets stronger ethical culture in banks
Thomas Baxter says progress is more important than ‘perfection' in promoting better behaviour among financial industry workers
Offshore renminbi clearing banks could face competition from 'superhighway'
As host countries play up significance of new clearing banks, questions emerge over whether they will become obsolete once Chinese ‘payments superhighway' comes into being
Great expectations: ECB set for QE showdown
Markets expect the ECB to announce a programme for buying €500 billion of sovereign bonds tomorrow, but the central bank retains the capacity to surprise
PBoC governor questions western central banks' ability to boost inflation
Speaking in Davos, Zhou Xiaochuan says 'monetary policy is not a panacea to reach targets', while Kenneth Rogoff says ECB QE will not be 'big enough'
Fed’s Powell offers support for ‘ambitious’ BoE review
Jerome Powell points to the importance of reflecting on structural changes in the fixed-income, currency and commodities markets
Summers takes Germany to task over attitude towards debt
Speaking in London, former US treasury secretary says there is need to move beyond 'Calvinist idea' that debt is bad; questions impact of QE, macro-prudential policies
Eurozone banks report further easing in credit standards
The net percentage of banks reporting easier credit standards continues to grow; ECB survey finds banks’ participation in TLTROs is mostly driven by profitability
Dutch paper examines bank responses to wholesale funding shocks
Working paper published by The Netherlands Bank finds banks with large exposure to government bonds show ‘relatively stronger response’ to wholesale funding shocks
BoE’s Cunliffe wants better allocation of capital in Europe
Better functioning capital markets would encourage savings to be put to better use, allow greater risk sharing and provide alternative sources of finance, deputy governor says
King says further easing unlikely to work
Former Bank of England governor warns monetary policy is reaching the limit of its ability to stimulate, with the global economy trapped in ‘quite serious disequilibria’
Central Bank of Argentina uses PBoC swap agreement for external financing
With Argentina suffering a default in July and without access to markets, its central bank is drawing on a swap agreement with the PBoC to bolster its reserves
IMF: Central banks ‘must' ease if inflation expectations drop
Easing should be conducted through ‘other means' than interest rates if they are at ZLB, Fund argues in WEO update, which downgrades global growth forecast for 2015 to 3.5%
Honohan: EU-IMF programme a qualified success
Following conclusion of programme Central Bank of Ireland governor says it did 'what it said on the tin' by restoring market confidence and stabilising the economy