Central Banking
Kocherlakota announces Fed departure
Minneapolis Fed president and FOMC dove to step down when his term draws to a close in February 2016
Fijian authorities tackle religious worker fraud
Financial Intelligence Unit urges religious organisations to conduct financial transactions under own name to prevent overseas remittances from ending up in the wrong hands
RBI's Rajan looks to regional and domestic demand
RBI governor argues India must look to regional and domestic demand for its growth, while still working towards a ‘more open and fair global system’
Argentina’s central bank denies being an ‘alter ego’ of the government
Central Bank of Argentina lawyers look to dismiss a complaint from the holdout funds in New York, rejecting the notion the institution is an ‘alter ego’ of the Argentine government
Impact of flight to liquidity on bonds important for policy-makers, study finds
The effects of flight to liquidity episodes on bond markets ‘are important for policy-makers’, since they are associated with ‘lower macroeconomic confidence’, research finds
IMF paper: Costs of macro-pru policies still unclear
Policy-makers should ‘move carefully' in adopting macro-prudential tools as ‘knowledge is still limited', working paper argues
Poloz warns regulation could stifle credit to SMEs
Bank of Canada governor says new financial regulation likely to reduce the availability of credit to small companies by discouraging financial innovation
Women still hold less than 10% of top jobs
Central banks continue to become 'more equal employers' in 2014, but only 18 of 189 institutions are led by women
Brazil’s central bank lowers expectations of further action
Brazil’s central bank says inflation will enter ‘a long period of decline’ next year, as it looks to guide inflation and interest rate expectations
Basel Committee tightens securitisation standards despite bank protests
Final standards for securitisations impose tougher capital requirements despite banks’ complaints that the rules are ‘punitive’; reduces reliance on external ratings
Norges Bank cuts interest rates as krone weakens
Low inflation gives Norway's central bank room to tackle the impact on growth of falling oil prices; governor suggests key rate will remain at record low for the next two years
Czech banks ‘resilient’ to adverse shocks
Latest stress tests conducted by the Czech National Bank finds the country’s banking sector is ‘sufficiently resilient’ to shocks, including a ‘sizeable decline’ in economic activity
Bank of Finland’s Honkapohja advocates ‘cautious and gradual’ approach to deregulation
Central bank board member offers lessons for China from Nordic experience with financial deregulation, and advocates a cautious approach over a ‘big bang’
Bank of England unveils sweeping transparency changes
Bank of England to publish transcripts of monetary policy meetings, cut number of meetings, revamp committee structures and more; Barry Eichengreen says benefits likely to ‘dominate’ costs
Linde fears ‘revival’ of debt sustainability concerns
Concerns about the sustainability of European sovereign debt have not disappeared and could be reactivated if the economic conditions worsen, says Linde
Weak TLTRO demand increases pressure on ECB
Banks borrow €129.8 through ECB's second operation; pressure increases on governing council to launch new measures in January or March 2015
Bank of Russia raises interest rates by 100bp
Central bank will continue to hike to stem double-digit inflation; growth expected to remain low "until import-substituting industries develop"
Davis Report reveals extent of FCA communications blunder
Report uncovers misguided comms strategy, poor supervision by senior managers and sluggish response as FCA ‘taken by surprise’
IMF praises Central Bank of Kuwait’s ‘proactive’ approach
Central bank is ‘proactive’ in its liquidity management and macro-prudential supervision, IMF report says; publishing more timely information on oil sector would be ‘useful’
Central bank says macro-pru tools ‘crucial’ in Turkey
With the threat of a ‘spillover from global uncertainty to inflation’ in 2015, the Central Bank of Turkey highlights the importance of macro-prudential defences
Praet explores QE transmission channels
ECB chief economist considers scope of portfolio rebalancing and signalling effects for both corporate and sovereign bond purchases
Irish research finds macro-pru tools have ‘greater impact’ on first-time buyers
Economic letter published by Central Bank of Ireland explores impact of loan-to-value and loan-to-income ratios on different groups within residential property market
Fed proposes tougher capital surcharges on biggest banks
US central bank aims to go beyond Basel framework on loss-absorbing requirements for GSIBs; Failure to comply would lead to restrictions on dividends and bonuses
Healthy domestic variables can smooth rating downgrades, paper finds
Good domestic variables can help a country recover from a sovereign rating downgrade, but these fundamentals have little capacity to accelerate on an ‘upgrade cycle’, research finds